After forty-five minutes, Hope regains consciousness only to find out that she's in a house and sees Roman tending to her leg, about to stitch it up.
"Welcome back." Roman welcomes Hope back to consciousness and she gives him a weak smile, which quickly turns into a frown when he actually begins stitching up her leg.
"Where am I?" Hope immediately decides to ask where she is, as she doesn't recognize the area.
"Uh, my place. I have various houses in different parts of the US. This is the one I have in Virginia." Roman explains that it's his house and that they're in Virginia.
"I thought we were going to New Orleans. I told you to take me to my family." Hope reveals her belief in the fact they were heading to NOLA so he can take her to her family, implying that she has no memory of what he told her before she fainted and he sighs as he realizes this.
"You apparently don't remember but I told you that your family is at the boarding school, did you want me to take you to New Orleans instead?" Roman voices the fact that she doesn't remember what he told her then repeats himself before asking if she wants him to take her to New Orleans.
"No, my family shouldn't be in Mystic Falls. No one should be. I left a very insightful note that told the school to get the hell out of town so they'd be safe." Hope's words make it clear that she might not remember visiting the school last night via vampire telepathy.
"Hope, they didn't find that note until several hours ago. You have been missing for a month." Roman tells Hope that her note wasn't discovered until more recently then reveals to her that she's been missing for a month, which stuns her.
"A month?" Hope looks horrified as she questions his words in a soft tone and Roman just finishes stitching up her injuries.
"Yeah, the school has been looking for you throughout that entire time. I just got involved in this yesterday, as did your family." Roman confirms that it has been a month then decides to tell her that neither him nor her family were involved until yesterday as he wraps her stitched wound in medical tape.
Hope looks in disbelief, shock, and horror as she processes all of this information, unsure of what to say or do.
"Well, your wound is stitched up, I should get you back to your family. I promised them I'd return you safely, I couldn't exactly do that if you were bleeding out." Roman confesses to Hope that he made a promise to her family that ensured he returned her then reveals why he made the brief stop before he did.
"Thank you, Roman." Hope thanks Roman for helping her out in a genuine tone with a small smile.
"You're welcome. Now, let's get you back to your family." Roman accepts the thanks then helps her to her feet as he exclaims that he should get her back to her family and she nods in agreement.
"They were watching the necklace, weren't they? That's one of the things about it, I can always tell when someone's watching the necklace. So, I'm assuming you know how I was injured." Hope assumes that they were watching the necklace before she quickly explains that she can always tell when someone's activated the camera.
Roman nods awkwardly in agreement to the fact he knows how she was injured before he changes the subject.
"You know, for someone who has been in captivity for a month, you don't look as bad as one would think." Roman compliments Hope's appearance despite the fact she was held hostage and she weakly chuckles at this.
"Yeah, uh, for a while with one of my captors, they hooked me up to an IV that kept me unconscious yet it also gave me food, so I didn't become too malnutritioned." Hope explains that one of her captors ensured that she didn't starve to death.
"I- I partially remember meeting Antoinette when I visited the school and I just recalled that everyone was still at the school. It, uh, it took me a while but I remembered. Your… sister is really pretty." Hope decides to inform Roman that she has started remembering when she visited the school then hesitates and forces herself to say sister as she pays a compliment to Antoinette.
Roman chuckles at this as he realizes that she wanted to call Antoinette his wife yet stopped herself.
"So, uh, why were at the school to begin with?" Roman wonders why Hope paid a visit via vampire astral projection with a genuine, confused tone.
"I was trying to reach out to you because I was weak and needed help. You were the first person to come to my mind when I realized how much help I needed." Hope confesses the reason why she was there, claiming that she concluded she couldn't get out of her situation alone.
"Okay I just need to ask. What home videos did you see? I remember discovering that you had found them." Hope changes the topic, blurting the question of what home videos the group had seen and he laughs nervously with a nervous smile.
"We didn't see many of them. Um, two of them were from your childhood, one was part of a video diaries series, and one consisted of you doing the ice bucket challenge. Why didn't you tell me you had a crush on someone at school?" Roman attempts to ease her fears by saying they didn't see many then wonders why he didn't tell him she had a crush after revealing the videos they saw.
Hope has a look of horror as she determines that they saw her video diaries as well as the fact that he saw her 'ice bucket' video.
"Well, if you saw the ice bucket part then I'm sure that you saw the rest of it and why I was doing the ice bucket challenge to begin with." Hope just evades the question by awkwardly reminding Roman about the rest of the video and he nods.
"That didn't answer the question." Roman calls her out on evading the question and she looks away as she sighs in exhaustion and realization before she grabs his face then passionately kisses him once she stands on her toes, since he's taller than her.
"I was talking about you, Roman. You were the guy I had a crush on." Hope breathlessly admits to Roman that the video was about him after the kiss breaks yet they still hold the embrace as his hands are around her waist while her hands are still on his face.
Roman stares at her in shock, clearly stunned and not expecting this answer as he's speechless.
"Um, I should really get you back to your family. I'm pretty sure I was put on a time limit the second I left, so." Roman changes the subject, realization dawning on him that he had made a promise to bring her back to them then makes an assumption that he's on a clock.
"Right." Hope deduces that he makes a point as she agrees to his words after they back away from each other, yet she tries to hide the fact that she feels stupid from her most recent confession to him, not knowing that she's failing.
"Did you know? Before everything that happened, happened, did you know that you had me in that way?" Hope, speaking from the embarrassment that she currently feels about her confession, asks if Roman knew that she was in love with him, staring at him sadly as though she already knows he did.
"No, I didn't. If I did, I probably would have done things differently." Roman denies that he knew she was in love with him, which clearly shocks her.
"Look, we really should get back to the boarding school. I can tell you right now, that two of your family members don't necessarily like me." Roman turns his attention back to getting Hope to the school then brings up the fact two of her family members don't like him.
"It's my brother and my uncle Kol, isn't it? I would say my parents but… they're dead." Hope deduces that Marcel and Kol are the ones who don't like him then admits that she would have said her parents if they weren't dead.
"Actually, your aunt Rebekah is the one who doesn't like me very much. But right on with your brother hating me." Roman corrects her by saying that Rebekah is the one second person who dislikes him yet agrees that Marcel is the first one.
"Really? My aunt Rebekah is usually pretty chill but then again, she does get her temper from my father. Yet so do I and so does my brother." Hope seems to disbelieve that Rebekah is the one who hates him but remembers that herself, Marcel, and Rebekah all get their temper from Klaus, which Roman can't help but slightly chuckle at.
Before anything else can be said, Roman pulls Hope closer to him then vamp speeds them to the school in order to not waste anymore time.
Roman enters the library, carrying a sleeping Hope in bridal carry as she had fallen asleep before he got there and places her on one of the unoccupied couches.
"Returned to you, as promised." Roman voices that he kept his promise in returning her to them safely.
"You were gone for a bit of time." Rebekah points out that Roman was gone for a while and he nods awkwardly.
"Yeah, had to make a detour in order to fix her wound up. Didn't, uh, want her dying of blood loss before I brought her back here." Roman confesses that he had to make a detour and stitch up her wound or else it wouldn't have counted as a kept promise.
"Thank you." Freya is the first person who decides to thank Roman yet Hayley gives him an appreciative look and mouths it after she sits on the couch next to her daughter.
Roman just nods in response as a way to accept both of the thanks that he received then makes his way over to Antoinette but before he can say anything, Hope wakes up.
It doesn't take long before Hope realizes that she's back at the boarding school yet sadly does not seem to recognize that her mother is on the couch with her as she immediately notices Marcel first.
"Marcel." Hope smiles at his presence as she gets off the couch and rushes to hug him while Hayley pretends that her feelings weren't just hurt by the fact that her daughter didn't see her.
"That was a bit rude, don't you think?" Klaus speaks up after Hope hugs Kol, calling her actions towards her mother rude.
Hope freezes in her tracks as she remembers the voice that just spoke then slowly turns around to see her father, who she wastes no time in rushing over to and hugging tightly.
Hope backs out of the hug, looking surprised, overwhelmed, and confused along with being very happy yet it doesn't take long before she realizes that her mother is back as well.
"Wha- how?" it's obvious in her facial expression along with her tone that Hope is very overwhelmed in confusion and happiness as she tries to figure out how her parents are still alive while looking between them.
"There's a lot of catching up to do." Josie makes herself known by joining in on the conversation, stating that they have a lot of catching up to do.
Hope tries to contain how overwhelmed she is by nodding agreement to Josie's words then realizes that since Josie was the last person she saw, outside of Dorian, she just decides to give Josie a very brief hug that only lasts two seconds.
"You better stop there." Lizzie prevents Hope from hugging her after Hope has hugged most of the room that she likes.
"Wasn't even going to go there." Hope makes the comment that she wasn't even going to approach Lizzie, who frowns.
"What no, get over here and hug me you midget." Lizzie expresses the fact she feels offended by Hope's words then gives her a nickname before heading over and hugging Hope herself.
Hope smiles to herself about Lizzie's behavior, clearly amused, but hides the smile when the hug breaks.
"So, what happened when I was gone?" Hope gets to business and asks what she missed while she was kidnapped, despite the fact she has dried blood on her face from the one man she killed and looks badly beaten along with still seeming somewhat exhausted.
With this question being asked, they all decide to take turns telling her what she missed, even though some of them wanted to make the suggestion she get cleaned up or rest.
They inform Hope of everything, with Lizzie quickly adding that, thanks to Landon, she had found her Words with Friends cheat code in the form of the Catching Fire book as she felt it was important for Hope to know that she's aware of this.
Hope is sitting on one of the tables in the library as she processes all of this information, not noticing that Josie looks anxious about how she's going to respond, especially since they confessed that they went through her room.
"It sounds like you guys have had a very eventful month. Um, I'm going to go, get cleaned up, change, then probably start packing." Hope simply concludes that the group had an eventful month then gets off the table before stating that she is going to get cleaned up.
"Start packing?" Penelope questions Hope's words, pointing out that she said she was going to start packing after she's cleaned up, and Hope nods in response.
"I just got into an accident and held hostage for an entire month, Penelope. I can't stay here anymore, I don't feel safe. So yeah, I'm going to pack and then I am going to head back to New Orleans with my family." Hope gives her reason as to why she will pack up her things, claiming that she no longer feels safe in Mystic Falls and believes that she'll feel safer with her family.
"Maybe you can tell us what happened when you were kidnapped." Landon suggests that Hope tell them what happened to her while she was in captivity before Hope leaves the library, even though she was near the door, about to head out.
However, this suggestion has Hope freeze in her tracks then look back at the room, her eyes screaming haunted and afraid as her expression screams devastated and hurt.
"No, I can't. I won't. Just… don't make me talk about it okay." Hope instantly declines the suggestion of talking about it before aggressively pleading that they don't make her talk about it then storms out of the library.
"Nice one, Landon." Penelope sarcastically states that Landon made a nice suggestion as it seemed to have Hope in a mood and Landon rolls his eyes at this sarcastic remark.
"Really because I was going to call it insensitive." MG pipes up, obviously not getting the fact that Penelope was being sarcastic, as he claims he was going to call Landon's recommendation insensitive.
"MG's right, it was pretty inconsiderate. I mean, you couldn't have actually thought it was a good idea to make a suggestion that someone just rescued from captivity talk about it, even though you are very well aware they were skinned at some point while being held hostage, did you?" Lizzie agrees with MG's point of Landon being insensitive before she incredulously asks if Landon genuinely thought his suggestion was a good one, as she emphasizes 'just'.
Penelope looks as though she's going to tell them that she was being sarcastic, only to realize MG and Lizzie are sitting very close to each other on one of the couches, which seems to prevent her from saying anything.
"She's probably not even going to tell us about the car accident anymore, thanks to you hobbit." Lizzie bitterly adds that Hope most likely isn't going to tell them about what had happened the day of the car accident, giving a sarcastic thanks to Landon yet calls him hobbit again.
"I don't think she was going to tell us about the accident at all. But if she were, then yeah, Landon definitely made it worse." Kaleb gets in on the conversation, revealing his belief that Hope was never going to tell them about the accident yet agrees that if she did, then Landon just ensured that she wouldn't.
Landon seems to feel bad about making his suggestion as he looks to Rafael, Josie, and Jed to see if either one of them has something to add about his suggestion being really insensitive.
"I can't believe I'm saying this but, they all make good points. You could've just not made the suggestion." Jed's words imply that he agrees with everyone else about him being a bit rude with the recommendation.
"Yeah, maybe you could have tried being a little nicer on the fact." Rafael shyly joins the conversation, claiming that Landon could have tried to be considerate, leaving Landon looking at Josie now, seemingly knowing that she wants to add something but she just remains silent as she knows that Landon wants her to join the group of people outwardly calling him insensitive.
"You've made your points, my suggestion was stupid and inconsiderate." Landon simply decides to no longer wait for Josie to say something and makes it clear that he is now aware his suggestion was one that shouldn't have been made.
An hour later, Hope returns to the library, cleaned up and in different clothes, yet they're jeans and she's in a jacket that looks similar to the one from the accident but they can tell it's a different one, meaning that she's wearing another one of her father's jackets.
"Before you leave, if you're comfortable, can you maybe tell us about the day you got into the car accident?" Josie makes a more considerate offer of Hope sharing information with them and Hope looks uncomfortable about this suggestion.
"I already told you what happened that day and if you're suggesting that I tell you about the actual accident then no. I don't entirely feel comfortable sharing that." Hope reminds them that she already told them what happened the day of the accident then states she doesn't feel comfortable talking about the accident in general.
"Honestly, I really just want to know what happened to your slushie. So, maybe if you talk about that day, you can remember exactly what happened to it." Lizzie makes it clear that she only cares about the slushie's whereabouts and reveals her belief that if Hope talks about it, then she'll recall where the slushie went.
Hope sighs as she thinks about Lizzie's words then leaves her luggage by the door to make her way to an empty couch and sit down.
"Fine, but only because I don't understand how an entire slushie disappeared and apparently left no evidence." Hope reluctantly agrees to talk about the accident yet immediately gives her reason as to why she is and Lizzie gives MG a low five that Hope doesn't see.
"I can't remember where I left off in what I explained to you earlier." Hope realizes that she doesn't remember the last thing she told them when talking about the day of the accident after she seemed lost in thought for a moment.
"You left off after you left the gas station, you realized that someone was following you, then you lost them by turning down a back-road and you said that Josie called." Jed re-jogs Hope's memory of where she left off, him being the only one to remember that as he answered the question with ease while everyone else was still thinking.
"Right, thanks Jed." Hope processes Jed's words for a minute before it hits her that he's correct then thanks him for jogging her memory.
"So, I turned down a back-road to lose the people following me. Then that's when Josie called me." Hope continues the story where she left off then, after she removes her necklace from the evidence bag and takes her magic back, she uses a spell to let them see exactly what happened when Josie called.
(Flashback)
Hope is in Alaric's car and has just turned down a back-road when her phone starts to ring, which has her sigh in annoyance.
She reaches for her phone, which is on the passenger seat and sees who's calling, only to answer it quickly.
"Hey Josie." Hope greets Josie in a friendly manner over the phone.
"Hey, Hope. I know we spoke recently but I was wondering how close you are to the school." Josie returns the greeting before getting to the point of why she called.
"Well, I just turned down a back-road, so I should be there in twenty minutes. Maybe thirty tops." Hope reveals that she turned down a back-road and assures Josie that she should be at the school soon.
"That's great. Um, I can't wait to hear how your day was because mine was very interesting." Josie expresses her happiness in the fact that Hope will be returning soon then admits that she wants to hear about Hope's day as well as tell Hope about her day.
"Well, when I come back to the school, I'll be sure to tell you about it and hear about your day because I'm curious about what you've been up to." Hope exclaims that she'll tell Josie about her day once she returns to the school yet makes it clear that she wants to hear about Josie's day as well.
Before Hope can say anything else, she sees the car that was tailing her earlier in her rear-view mirror and she gets a look of horror.
"Look Josie, um, I'm in a bad spot right now so I will see you when I get to the school, okay?" Hope decides to cut the call short by claiming that she's in a bad area for cell service then questions if Josie is ok with the call ending.
"Uh yeah, okay. I'll see you soon. Bye." Josie agrees to let the call end then says a farewell to Hope.
"Bye." Hope returns the farewell then hangs up the phone, only to see a text from Alaric that's asking where she is.
Hope sighs before she responds to the message with voice texting.
"On my way back now." Hope says the text out loud and it appears on the message board but before she can send it, she sees the car behind her speeding up.
"I'm so sorry, Dr. Saltzman." Hope mutters an apology to Alaric before she speeds up the car then aggressively turns the wheel after hitting send on her message.
However, due to flipping the wheel, it causes the car to flip over completely in the road, causing all of the windows to shatter except the windshield, then roll into the ditch where the car was found.
Hope coughs a couple of times as she looks around, processing the damage that the accident caused then quickly realizes that the vehicle is upside down so she uses her foot to kick the windshield off but to no avail.
Worried that the people following her will find her if she dallies, she takes off her Mikaelson crest necklace then hides it in the inner pocket of her leather jacket and removes a pocket knife from the same jacket to cut herself out of the vehicle.
Once she cuts the seat-belt off, she turns her body and kicks the driver's door so hard it simply falls off the hinges then she weakly crawls out of the wreckage, moving the car door to the side to make it easier for her to leave.
After she gets on her feet, she starts running into the woods as soon as she realized that the people following her didn't see the crash, even though it was right in front of them.
Despite being weak from the car accident she put herself in, Hope manages to run very far in the woods before a gun is fired and Hope gasps in pain, as it was a dart gun.
The dart gun goes off three more times before Hope falls to her knees then on the ground, unconscious.
(end of flashback)
"I really am sorry about crashing your car, Dr. Saltzman." Hope shows her sincere sorrow of crashing her headmaster's car by apologizing for doing so.
"All that matters is you're alive. Either way, I was actually thinking of getting a new car anyway." Alaric assures Hope that the situation is fine as the only thing he cares about is that she's alive then makes the comment that he's been meaning to get a new car.
"That didn't tell us anything about what happened to your slushie." Lizzie turns the topic to Hope's slushie, reminding Hope that the only reason she retraced her steps was to find out what happened to her slushie and proving that the slushie was the only reason she wanted to hear the story to begin with.
Hope thinks about this for a long moment, realizing that Lizzie's right, and tries to recall what happened to it, even though it was in the car accident when everything went down.
"I have no idea what happened to it. What I just told you was everything that happened and the slushie was clearly in the car when I crashed it. Maybe the people following me took it from the car? I don't know." Hope voices her clear confusion on how her slushie had disappeared, remembering that it was a part of the accident then just questioningly suggests that the people who followed and kidnapped her might've taken it from the car.
Everyone thinks about this possibility and they all silently agree with it as they don't want to go crazy thinking about what happened to the slushie anymore now that Hope has returned.
"Oh hey, are you coming to our fifteenth birthday next week?" Lizzie instantly changes the subject to her and Josie's birthday party by wondering if Hope is going to be there and Hope seems stunned by this question.
"Um, I don't know if I'm going to attend but I have gifts that your dad might have to give you for me since I'm leaving for New Orleans today. Unless you guys want early birthday gifts." Hope confesses her uncertainty in attending the party but reveals that she had got them both gifts then wonders if they want the gifts early, since she's leaving the school and won't be there for the party.
"I love opening gifts. Birthday or not, so if you want to give us the gifts now, that's perfectly fine with me." Lizzie tells them that she loves opening gifts regardless of the occasion and claims that Hope can give them the gifts at any time.
"Uh, okay. I actually have one more bag to pack so I'll go get them. Sorry if they suck, I'm not great at gift giving." Hope realizes that she forgot one last bag to pack, which will give her time to get the gifts then apologizes for the fact they might be crappy beforehand then leaves the library to go get them.
Hope returns to the library after ten minutes pass and she has a purple duffel bag slung over her shoulder, holding two very nicely wrapped gifts.
"Yeah, here are the gifts. Um, is it cool if Roman comes back to New Orleans with us? He's a friend and he saved my life." Hope awkwardly places the gifts on one of the library tables then focuses her attention on her family as she asks if Roman can go to New Orleans with them, stating that he's a friend and reminds them that he did save her life.
The Mikaelsons all exchange glances, debating on if they should let Roman come with them but when the vote doesn't seem to be going in the direction she wants, Hope steps in to give them another reminder.
"He doesn't have to live with us." Hope speaks up and informs them that Roman doesn't have to live with them, implying that she simply wants Roman in the city instead of in the house.
They all exchange glances again, adding this new point that Hope gave them, and although the vote seems very close, they all happen to come to the same conclusion.
"Fine, he can come back with us but he's staying in New Orleans." Marcel reveals the vote that they all came to and Roman seems surprised that they agreed on the fact he can join them in New Orleans while Hope restrains her joy in the fact they agreed before she turns to face the Saltzman twins.
After a minute, Lizzie looks at Josie, who holds her wrapped box and looks at it with an uneasy facial expression.
"Are you going to open it or not, Jos?" Lizzie impatiently wonders if Josie is going to open the gift as she's waiting on her since they always open gifts at the same time.
"I don't know. This gift is perfectly wrapped, I don't want to ruin it." Josie voices her uncertainty of opening the box and claims that she doesn't want to ruin the work it took for Hope to wrap it causing Lizzie to face-palm.
"It's fine, just open it." Hope assures Josie that it's okay to ruin the wrapping paper then tells her to simply open it.
With this reassurance, Josie starts opening the gift, which has Lizzie start opening hers.
The boxes are medium-sized and after they're opened, there are two different things in it for both of them but they're wrapped.
"Yeah, I got each of you two things. The first one is something you both get and the second one relates to your hobby, I think. Well, it should anyway. And don't feel bad because both of the second gifts cost the same amount of money." Hope explains that she got them each two things and while one gift is the same, the other was the same in price, which reassures them that neither got jipped with a cheaper gift.
So, Lizzie and Josie open the gift that's the same size to reveal a coloring book and Hope seems awkward about it because she's never actually given people gifts before.
"It's uh, an activity book. Self-made one, um it has a lot of things in it. Crosswords, word searches, mini Sudoku puzzles, along with stories and coloring pages, as well as the pop-up pictures and connect-the-dots." Hope very awkwardly clarifies that it's an activity book with a lot of things in them then admits that she made both of them herself, which definitely impresses them.
Then they open the next gifts in the box with Lizzie receiving a sewing machine and Josie receiving a very nice, professional photographer's camera.
"Well, those don't need an explanation. I have come to realize that I don't like giving people gifts. But um, yay you have early birthday presents." Hope deduces that the second presents don't need an explanation then admits that she has concluded she doesn't like gift giving before mockingly saying that they received early presents in a mildly embarrassed tone.
"Can we head back to New Orleans now?" Hope turns to her family with a pleading expression as she asks if they can leave for New Orleans.
"Yeah, we can head back." Klaus agrees to return to New Orleans and Hope grabs the rest of her purple luggage.
Hope's family leaves the library with Roman, as well as his sister, and Hope follows close behind once she determines that she has all of her bags but before she can leave the school, Penelope rushes after her.
"Hey, Hope. Why… Why didn't you tell me that your dad had died?" Penelope calls after Hope then asks what's on her mind after brief hesitation, causing Hope to stop and turn to face Penelope.
"I tried, two years ago, the day that it happened. You slammed the door in my face." Hope reminds Penelope of the day she dissed Hope by slamming a door in her face then she admits that was when she tried to tell Penelope about her father.
Penelope seems very ashamed of her actions with this new information and looks at Hope apologetically.
"I'm sorry. It's just… I was still angry at you for decimating our friendship after your mom died. I guess I just didn't want to misplace my judgement with you because before your mother died, I thought you were different, seeing as how I was the first person that you befriended." Penelope apologizes for her behavior then explains why she did it in the first place, hinting that she has wrongly placed her judgement in people often.
"I understand that, I do. And, apology accepted. I have to go but if you want, I can talk to my parents about inviting you and the Saltzman twins over for the holidays. Just don't expect any gifts from me." Hope expresses her understanding in Penelope's reasons then accepts her apology before offering if Penelope and the Saltzmans want to come to New Orleans later in the year to celebrate Christmas but quickly adds that she shouldn't expect any presents from her.
Penelope laughs warm-heartedly at this as she nods, seemingly in agreement.
"Okay. I'll talk to Lizzie and Josie about it when it's closer to the holidays." Penelope makes it clear that she would like to celebrate Christmas with Hope and her family then decides to talk to the Saltzman twins about it closer to the holidays.
"Alright, sounds like a plan. I've got to go." Hope accepts Penelope's agreement to the future plans before realizing that she has to go and the two of them share a hug that lasts a lot longer than the one they shared in the library as they've rekindled their friendship.
The hug eventually breaks and the two smile warmly at each other before Hope walks down the hall, leaving the school in order to live with her family.