Author's Note: Chapter 3, set around episodes 10 and 13. The pacing of the 2nd half of the season makes it a little harder to find realistic moments for Lizzie and Hope to bond. Especially as episodes 10-16 should realistically take place over only a week or so. And I had already done fics involving some of those moments. Still there were enough gaps that I was able to come up with this. So read, enjoy and tell me what you think.

Waiting Game

"Remind me why we're not just doing this ourselves? Is the kumbuya circle really necessary?" Hope asked, still not sure why they were making this more complicated than it needed to be. Sure, making a new ascendant required a ton of magic, but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle. And it would be faster, as in they could be done with enough time left to go get dinner instead of needing to wait for Emma to gather up all the witches.

"Think of this as a chance to bond with your fellow witches," Lizzie said airily, giving Hope a look. If anyone needed to actually make friends among them it was Hope. Alyssa had more witch friends than Hope did. "Besides, Josie went through all the trouble of setting it up, so if we don't then she'll pout for a week."

"Hey!" Josie interjected, a slight pout on her face. That wasn't fair, it had been as much Lizzie's idea as hers. "You're the one that said that we shouldn't keep relying on Hope to fix all of our problems."

"Yeah, and? Waiting for deus ex Hope should not be plan A," Lizzie retorted. Granted it did always seem to work, but there was no guarantee that would always be the case. "See earlier monster allergic to fairy dust."

"Actually I'm pretty sure I could have killed it anyways," Hope chimed in, getting both twins to turn and look at her. "Once it was on our plane it should have been vulnerable, that's why Landon was able to fight it."

It was only a guess but given that it had seemed to be in pain from Landon's punches it clearly wasn't invulnerable. She had realized it then but as it had the Morisarium she decided to be cautious and give Wade a chance. If that hadn't worked then she could've torn it apart with magic afterwards.

"Whatever, my point is that we can't expect you to fix everything for us. We should fix our own messes," Lizzie said, unfazed by Hope's point. She meant it though, they couldn't keep relying on her to fix everything, it wasn't fair to her. It was why she had sought Emma out for help with the spell to begin with instead of Hope, despite Hope being the clear and obvious choice.

"Ugh, fine. But if I end up having to hold hands with Alyssa I won't forgive you," Hope said, glaring at the twins from where she sat on Lizzie's bed. She had been helping them make sure there weren't any last minute adjustments needed for the spell, as they were only locking away an object and not a person. Mostly though it had just been an excuse for her to hang out, as she hadn't seem either of them as much as she wanted recently.

"Come on Hope, where's you Coven Day spirit? Maybe you should try and make nice," Lizzie said, her smirk giving away that she didn't believe anything she was saying.

"Didn't she set you on fire once?" Hope reminded Lizzie, wiping away her smirk.

"Didn't Josie set you on fire?" Lizzie retorted, getting a squeak of protest from her twin.

"Hey! I've never set anyone on fire," Josie countered, before remembering that wasn't exactly true, "...that you know of."

Hope and Lizzie turned almost in sync to look incredulously at Josie, before Lizzie realized something. "Wait, is that what Satan meant? How did you end up making her hotter by setting her on fire?"

Hope laughed at that as Josie turned red, she had actually seen Josie set Penelope on fire after all, but it had slipped her mind. And she had nothing but respect that Penelope was able to turn that into a look that worked so well for her. "You never let up on her, do you?" Hope said, referring to Lizzie's continued jabs at Penelope.

"Oh, you mean let up on my sister's former dalliance with the devil herself? Evil incarnate? She-who-must-never-be-named? No, why would I?" Lizzie retorted rapidly, Josie just shaking her head at Lizzie's antics.

"You should hear what she says about Landon when you're not around," Josie said, getting Hope to look at her curiously.

"Given what she says about him when I am around, I'm now concerned. What do you have against my boyfriend?" Hope asked, eyes practically glittering as she asked Lizzie. She could tell it made blonde uncomfortable and she relished any chance to have the shoe on the other foot for once.

"That he's your boyfriend," Josie said softly, not intending for anyone to actually hear her before remembering that Hope had werewolf hearing. Eyes wide she looked up, shaking her head subtly as she locked eyes with a shocked Hope, wishing she had telepathy to tell her not to say anything about it.

"-tab someone. And even then he dies too easily. Plus he's like three feet tall, there are actual hobbits who are taller." Lizzie continued in a deluge, the moment between Josie and Hope passing by her unnoticed. "Which I guess works for you since you're hobbit sized as well but still."

"I'm not that short," Hope protested, latching onto the last thing Lizzie had said. Internally her thoughts raced though, what had Josie meant by what she had said? Lizzie might not actually hate Landon, but it was close, and the reason was apparently because of she was dating him? Did that mean-

"Yes you are," Lizzie said shortly, snapping Hope out of her thoughts. "I've seen you use magic to get stuff off the top shelf instead of even trying to reach it."

"That's just because it's more convenient," Hope replied, trying to defend herself as Josie laughed. It really was though, why bother rummaging through the cabinets to find everything when she could bring it to her with a flick of her hand?

"Whatever you need to tell yourself," Lizzie said with a smirk. It was almost cute that Hope was trying to deny it, when she was nearly a foot shorter than she was.

"Why do I hang out with you again?" Hope asked, a slight smile on her face all the same. Despite making up with Josie several times things had still been awkward between them since she had returned to the school. And she had barely seen Lizzie in that time, the blonde having spent all her time with her new boyfriend. She had missed them.

"Because you're a masochist obviously," Lizzie said, getting Josie to turn red and Hope's mouth to fall open at that. Clearly the tribrid hadn't thought she would go there, which was what made it fun.

"Lizzie!" Josie said, about to admonish her sister before the door to the girl's room opened.

"Everything's prepared outside, are you girls ready to do this?" Emma asked as she entered the room, a proud smile on her face. It was good to see them taking the lessons of Coven Day so seriously.

"We're ready," Josie confirmed, glancing at her twin to be sure. They had originally done this when they were only five, Hope had double checked the spell they were using, and there were over dozen witches to help power it. What could go wrong?


"Mind making me one of those?" Hope asked, getting Lizzie to jump from where she was making a sandwich in the kitchen. Laughing softly she walked over to take a seat at the counter, missing the way Lizzie had winced after jumping.

"I didn't think anyone else would be up this early," Lizzie said, before taking a proper look at Hope. Her hair was a mess, and she was wearing simple shorts and a t-shirt with a robe pulled around her, but Hope looked far more alert than she herself was. "Were you out running?"

"Yeah, couldn't get back to sleep," Hope admitted, sighing slightly. There were plenty of reasons why obviously, Landon nearly being killed, Dorian being shot with an arrow, the fact that Rafael had been kidnapped and they hadn't known, and of course how close a call it had been in stopping Alyssa from destroying the prison world.

"Same," Lizzie said, nodding in solidarity. Finishing up her sandwich she pushed it across to Hope before starting to make a new one for herself. Hope looked like she was about to protest before her stomach growled and she blushed, deciding to just go ahead and eat what she had been offered. "In my case though it was because Josie kept having sex dreams."

"What!?" Hope sputtered out, choking on the P. B. and J Lizzie had made as she tried not to spit it out from shock.

"Yeah, twin bond is not as fun then," Lizzie said, ignoring Hope's gawking as she continued to make another sandwich. "It better not have been about Landon, she needs to be over that hobbit. Or about you. Oh, god, what if it was about both-"

"Lizzie!" Hope said sharply, cutting her off. "Please, I don't need to know. Especially not this early in the morning."

"Right, sorry," Lizzie said, admitting that she had a point. She shouldn't be telling Hope that her twin was fantasizing about her still, that could only end badly. Maybe she needed some coffee, that'd help wake her up. Moving to the cabinet she reached up to the top shelf to get it, wincing and pulling back as the movement caused her wound to ache.

This time Hope didn't miss it, and was out of her seat and moving to Lizzie's side immediately. "You didn't tell me you were hurt," Hope said, reaching out to touch Lizzie's side, having seen her grab at it.

"It's fine," Lizzie lied, pulling away from Hope's touch.

"Lizze, let me see," Hope said, her tone leaving no room for argument as she locked eyes with the blonde. Reluctantly Lizzie relented, pulling up the side of the her shirt to show Hope the jagged wound along her side. It wasn't pretty, an ugly red scar half an inch thick starting just to the left of her belly button and continuing all the way around to her side.

"Dad did his best to stitch me up, and they gave me some blood from that vamp we brought back but I guess it wasn't enough. There goes ever wearing a bikini again," Lizzie said, trying not to pull away as Hope ran her fingers along the scar.

"Well I can fix that," Hope said, gesturing with her finger and getting a knife to fly over to her from one the drawers Lizzie had left open. Taking hold of it she sliced her hand open before Lizzie could even think to stop her. "Here, drink. I promise it'll work better than some random vamp."

"Hope, what are you.. I can't," Lizzie protested, more out of shock at Hope being so willing to cut herself open than any real desire to say no.

"Look, do you want to be able to wear those crop tops you love so much again? Then drink," Hope said, cutting her already healed hand open once more and offering it to Lizzie.

"Blood, coffee, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The perfect way to start the day," Lizzie muttered softly, before relenting. She was pretty sure if she kept arguing then Hope was going to keep cutting herself until she agreed so might as well get it over with. Trying not to think about how awkward it was or how it had to to look she brought Hope's hand to her mouth, drinking the blood running from it.

Immediately she could feel her wound healing, a slight pain as it pulled apart the stitches and re-knit itself, an itch as new skin grew to replace the raw scar tissue that had been there before. "Wow," Lizzie said softly as she pulled away, her left hand feeling along where the wound had been and feeling nothing but smooth skin. "That was a lot less erotic than I thought it would be."

Hope burst out laughing at that, not believing that was what Lizzie was concerned about. She did have a point though, in the cheesy vampire movies she'd seen they always made it look much more enticing. In reality it had been more of a sucking up the blood that was still on her hand, than actually drinking from her given how fast she healed. Much less attractive. "You uh, you got something there," Hope said, pointing to Lizzie's blood-stained mouth as she tried to keep from laughing. Maybe it was the lack of sleep but it was just funny to her.

"Ugh, I am never becoming a vampire," Lizzie said, wiping at the blood around her mouth with her right hand only to realize that it was already covered in blood that had dripped from Hope's hand. How did her mom manage to deal with this all the time and not have stains on all her clothes? "I would've killed Sebastian if he managed to turn me."

"Come again? Sebastian tried to turn you?" Hope asked as Lizzie walked over to sink and started washing off the blood. She had been fairly sure Alaric had killed him when he had just vanished.

"Guess I didn't mention that yet," Lizzie said, in between dabbing at her mouth with a rag to get the blood off. "That get it all?" Lizzie asked, looking up to see Hope nod in confirmation before realizing that Hope had just used a spell to get the blood off of her. That was kind of annoying. Still now that she was free of blood she could finally get around to making the coffee that had been the cause of this.

"Anyway, Dad apparently had him banished there. Turns out that was the whole reason Emma suddenly came back," Lizzie continued, filling Hope in on the details. She had learned as much from Sebastian, while her Dad and sister were busy with everything else. "So while Dad and Josie were dealing with our insane uncle and murderous former students, I was playing house with Sebastian. Literally. He actually took me to this huge mansion outside of town, and we stayed there until he slipped me blood and tried to force me to turn."

"How did you get hurt then?" Hope asked, having assumed that it had been because of Kai or one of the other students she saw. It hadn't escaped her attention that there had been one less that made it out than what she had seen while astral projecting.

"Ugh, so he slips me blood and then tries to say that's it for my own protection? Like I can't protect myself. So I left. But then he followed my and wanted to kill me to force me to turn but also couldn't even get my name right, so I desiccated him," Lizzie said, almost sounding proud at what she'd done. "Of course while I'm driving back Josie broke the sand-clock and the rush of dark magic made me black out and wreck the car. That's when I got hurt, never even got to actually meet my lunatic uncle."

"Trust me, you didn't miss much," Hope said, derision heavy in her voice. She had actually been disappointed in how easy it was to handle Kai, given all of Alaric's warnings and concerns she thought he'd be a threat. But no, all it took was faking a little insecurity and he'd spilled his whole plan while leaving himself vulnerable to capture.

"Well I'm done with that, no more dating vampires of unknown age for me," Lizzie said getting a laugh from Hope. She had never really bought Sebastian saying that he been desiccated since he was seventeen, he had seemed to be quite a bit older than that and there wasn't anyway for them to verify what he had said. Not that it mattered now. "You know, I actually wondered for a moment if he might've been a Mikaelson that got Malivored."

"What? Why would you think that?" Hope asked, eyes wide in surprise. She was pretty sure Freya would have told her if she had remembered any extra siblings.

"I don't know, he was hot and dangerous and..." Lizzie said, stopping as Hope started laughing.

"So that's all it takes to be a Mikaelson, being hot and dangerous? So glad to know that's what you think of me," Hope got out, trying to fight back another laugh. She really must be sleep deprived if she was finding everything this funny. But Lizzie's idea of what made a Mikaelson was hilarious to her, at least partly because there was a measure of truth to it.

"Shut up, you didn't let me finish. There were other things too," Lizzie defended, shaking her head at Hope laughing at her. Yeah, hot and dangerous described Hope pretty well too but that hadn't been what she had meant. "He was able to do some pretty high level vampire stuff. Plus why was he buried under the school? And there's been like five different things happen here that should've killed him, desiccated or not."

"Well I'm pretty certain that he wasn't a Mikaelson. And it's not like it matter now anyways," Hope said, before wincing at how that had come out. It was true of course, Sebastian was as dead as you could get, but she shouldn't have said it like that. "Sorry, sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

"It's fine, I'm done crying over him. I've done enough of that," Lizzie said, shrugging it off. Of course it wasn't as easy as simply saying that and moving on but she had a lot of experience at locking away things she didn't want to actually think of. Not the healthiest coping mechanism but it worked, for a little while at least.

Hope gave Lizzie a soft smile, about to say something before hearing someone walking toward them. Turning she was surprised to see Emma entering the kitchen, having thought the woman would still be at the hospital.

"Morning, girls," Emma said in greeting, nodding as the girl responded in kind. Eyes lighting up as she saw the coffee already made she poured herself a cup, sighing in contentment at the smell.

"Want us to leave you alone?" Lizzie asked, smirking at how much Emma was enjoying the coffee. Granted it was pretty good, but not that good.

"I've been up all night. You'll have to forgive me for indulging in a decent cup of coffee," Emma said, taking another sip. The coffee at the hospital had left a lot to be desired, starting with flavor and warmth.

"How's Dorian doing?" Hope asked, knowing that was where Emma had been. She had offered to heal him with her blood, much as she had with Lizzie, but they were worried about it reacting with the golden arrow somehow. About all they knew about it was that it had been made to kill supernaturals, but which ones or how was an open question.

"Recovering. The surgery went as well as one could hope. So now all there is to do is wait," Emma said, being careful not to let her displeasure show. She just wished there was more they could do but the chance of anything supernatural making it worse were just too high.

"Well, let me know if there is anything I can do," Hope offered. The whole reason Dorian had gotten hurt was because she had thought Kai was just trying to get her alone. If she had thought that they would've actually be in danger she would've never let them leave, even if that had meant tipping Kai off.

"Actually there is one thing," Emma said, a smile coming to her face. She needed to find more people for the session anyways and Hope was somehow who could definitely benefit. "You see I'm planning and group therapy session for this afternoon and I was hoping the two of you would join."


Author's Note: Done. There will be just one more chapter, which with any luck I'll have up pretty soon, then I can turn my attention to getting the next chapter of Hanging On By A Thread out. As always subscribe, leave reviews, and check out some of my other works. All of those things mean a lot to me.