Chapter 25

A/N: Songs: "Bend and not break" – Dashboard Confessional ; "Currents" – Dashboard Confessional ; "Shallow" – Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper

(…)

Nietzsche said that there is always some madness in love, but that there is also always some reason in madness.

Josie was stuck – was she on the side of reason or madness? Both filled her mind as she sat next to Hope on the bus on their way to New Orleans. It was a long trip and it seemed to Josie that every minute that passed by just served to further drive her to finding some sort of reason in the madness she was experiencing.

Hope was asleep, her head gently resting on Josie's shoulder as she breathed deeply. Josie couldn't help but admire how peaceful she seemed, and just how beautiful that peace was. Josie was very well aware of the life that Hope has lived and the things she's had to endure in her short 18 years, and so she was not someone who relaxed easily. But in a rare moment such as the current one, Josie couldn't help but fall deeper in love with the look of contentment that sat relaxed on Hope's beautiful features.

It was a common belief that love is madness. Josie knew that if such was the case, then she'd never want to experience sanity again. Josie would rather spend all her days enraptured in lunacy if that meant she would get to experience the ecstasy of loving Hope Mikaelson.

But in that same madness lay the pain she feared. It would indeed be madness to love someone who loved someone else. Hope had admitted to Josie that she struggled to get the siphon off of her mind. But Hope had also admitted to Josie that she had been spending a lot of time with Landon. Josie was fearful, and her heart – though filled with mad love and loving madness – was still very aware of the fact that it might get broken.

Josie watched Hope, filled from top to toe with the purest sense of affection imaginable, and made herself a promise. She reached out and tucked some stray strands of auburn behind Hope's ear and whispered – not necessarily to Hope, but into the universe itself, "I am fairly agile. I know that I can bend and not break… or if I do break, I can take it with a smile. All as long as I can just have my moment to hold you."

(…)

Hope opened her eyes slowly, her mind still foggy from sleep, her lips attached to the warmth of Josie's neck. Even though she didn't mean to, she still couldn't help but not only notice how fast Josie's heart was beating, but also how quickly it made Hope's own blood rush through her body.

She slowly pulled away with a shy smile as she cast her eyes at Josie. Josie's gaze was a hot ember color and Hope was relieved that they had managed to grab seats at the front of the bus where people would not be able to turn around and see the coloration of their eyes in each other's presence. Naturally, with Josie's eyes lit up like that, Hope's own adopted a soft golden glow as an equally soft smile settled on her lips.

"Hey sleepy." Josie whispered gently to Hope and it gave her butterflies. Just the pure tenderness with which Josie spoke to Hope alone was enough to make her melt for the dark-haired girl next to her. Josie was by far the most selfless, softest and purest soul that anyone at school could say they knew, and it thoroughly warmed Hope's heart. But then there was also the Josie that Hope had been getting to know as of late – the one that set her heart on fire and forced her body into sweltering arousal.

"Hey you…" Hope whispered in return and leaned her body into Josie's instinctively, seeking her warmth. "Whatcha doing?"

Josie stretched her arm out behind Hope and allowed the girl to crawl further into her side before wrapping it around her back and shoulder. "Oh, you know, the usual." Josie grinned at Hope and narrowed her eyes playfully. "Watching you sleep and planning on where I'm going to dump your body later."

Hope's eyes stretched to comical proportions as she lightly slapped Josie's leg. "I will come back to haunt you, you know?"

Josie giggled melodically and it caused Hope's heart to skip a beat. She loved the sound. If she could hear that sound every day, she would never need anything else ever again. "Here, listen with me." Josie said as she gave Hope an ear pod so that she could join in on relaxing to Josie's music as their journey continued.

The past few weeks had not been easy and they had definitely been filled with their ups and downs and loads of surprises. The most recent one, of course, being the fact that Hope's actual boyfriend had finally resurrected. Hope was caught, stuck, writhing between a rock and a hard place. She loved Landon and there was no doubt about that. However, she just still could not shake the feeling that something had changed ever since she woke up. Even though she loved Landon as she had loved him before his death, there was a new contender for her heart now that she could not ignore.

Perhaps it was rather a case of Hope's wolf refusing to allow her to ignore this new love.

Hope had to face the fact that her wolf had chosen Josie as her mate, even though it made no sense for a wolf to choose a non-wolf as a mate – not in the traditional way that it was doing, to the extent that there was marking and unification involved. She hoped that they would find the answers they needed with her aunts in New Orleans, but until then the burning desire she felt for Josie in the pit of her stomach just was not going to simply go away. Maybe they were rushing head-first into something that could cause them both great pain. Even the hook-ups were driven by an instinctual hunger that they seemed to have very little control over.

And so Hope sat, confused, with Landon in the palm of her one hand, and Josie consuming, in fiery passion, the other.

But, Hope thought, if a connection such as this is truly born in flames, then it should be granted the opportunity to burn as brightly as it can. And if it is eventually perhaps meant to end, then let it end the way it began – so hot it burns their hands.

(…)

"I've missed you so much." Hope was buried in the arms of Freya, her aunt enveloping her in what seemed like the world's tightest hug, as the small group gathered in the driveway of the house.

"I hope you're not too disappointed that we decided to move out to the suburbs, Hope." Keelin smiled from next to Freya, bouncing a busy toddler in her arms. Once Hope finished greeting Freya she soon shifted over to Keelin, hugging her with one arm while she cupped the back of little Nik's head with her free hand.

"Not at all. It's nice out here. Seems so… homey, I guess?" Hope took a moment to glance around the front yard of the house that her aunts called home. It was the American dream – typical white picket fence and everything.

"It's closer to the hospital for Keelin, and there's a really nice daycare around the corner for Nik." Freya explained as she eyed her niece while the girl soaked in her surroundings. "Marcel and Rebekah still stay at the compound when they're in town. They're off on one of their adventures at the moment. Kol and Davina also stay over there when they visit. It's just so big for us alone…"

"Aunty Freya, you have a beautiful home. I love it. Now will you please let us inside at least?" Hope grinned from ear to ear and lifted her bag along with Josie's, soon lead inside by the other women.

The girls had managed to arrive at their destination in New Orleans just in time for supper and couldn't be happier as they were treated to one of Keelin's famous pots of shellfish gumbo. As the ladies all gathered around the dining table, it gave them an opportunity to get better acquainted with what would come to be known as "the special lady" in Hope's life. If anyone had eyes to see how the two girls truly felt about each other, it was Freya and Keelin.

"You're even prettier than the last time we met." Freya smiled at Josie, watching delightedly as she turned a rosy color at the complement. "I must admit, I do look forward to seeing a different side of you from last time." Freya was of course referring to when Josie had managed to track her down for assistance in reverse engineering the spell that she would eventually use to recover everyone's memories after Malivore. "Perhaps a little less reckless and a little… happier." She winked at the siphon.

It had been a miserable time in Josie's life. She was once again the one to willingly self-sacrifice and give up the happiness she had shared with Landon in order to bring back everyone's memories of Hope. She was, of course, happy to have Hope back. But it hurt so much to watch the boy she wanted walk away from her and back into the arms of her best friend.

It's funny the way things seemed to turn around at the drop of a hat.

"I know just the way to make Josie a little happier." Hope grinned devilishly at Josie and then arched one brow at her aunt as if she was asking permission for something.

"Why do I not trust that look?" Josie scrutinized Hope. "And since when does the guarded Hope Mikaleson ever relax enough to get up to whatever nonsense you have in mind right now?"

Freya glanced over at Keelin and raised her brows. "Are you going to babysit tonight while I go teenage-sit?" She asked with a smirk.

Keelin grinned and shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. "The one is searching within herself for something more, while the other one is trying to fill a void. Take them to see if they can figure out which is which."

Sometimes Hope hated how intuitive Keelin was. She was definitely a wolf. It was also why she respected and loved her so much, and she knew that if anyone could lead them to answers regarding their predicament, it would be her and Freya.

But for now, it was a Friday night and the French Quarter was beckoning.

"You ready?" Hope grinned at Josie as her eyes started glowing brightly.

"Do I have a choice?" Josie met Hope's eyes with a luminous copper gaze.