InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I'm gonna get my drink on"

San Francisco had been good for Hope, all in all. At first, she'd been a little thrown by being pulled away from certain destiny, just when she had finally been ready to face that fate, but she'd had her Aunt Rebekah here for a time and she had her dad, now, too. Both of them had really helped with her transition to full tribrid, helping her to navigate the hunger and the enhanced emotions. Seeing her father again had felt even more overwhelming with her vampire side so newly activated, but it was good, too. Having him in her life again was something she'd never expected to be possible and that, alone, was enough for her to be really glad to be here, even if the frequent disappearances made it hard to trust that it would last.

She'd made friends here, too, which really was an accomplishment considering the way Hope tended to push people away at every turn. She'd wanted desperately to be friends with the Saltzman twins and to be a part of their family, even at the age of seven, but it had taken a full decade for that to be realized, largely because of her own issues. Wanting to be a part of their world and their family didn't mean she found it easy to let them in. In those days, she'd had to go by Hope Marshall and maybe not being able to admit who she truly was had been a part of it, but even once it had all come out, even once they'd helped to pull the Hollow out of her, it hadn't been easy to just let herself be friends with them. Vulnerability had never been Hope's forte.

It was different here and Hope didn't know if she'd really grown so much since truly becoming friends with Lizzie and Josie or if it was simply easier not having the same kind of pressure on her. She was the hope of the Mikaelson family. Their redemption. It was right there in her name, but Hope wasn't the only hero here and she didn't have to be The One to save everyone. There was time and space to almost be a regular teenage girl and it was a sort of normalcy that Hope was embracing. She knew it was everything her mother had wanted for her. It was a lot of why she'd sent her to the Salvatore School to begin with.

Almost as if the thought summoned her to life, Hayley Marhsall Kenner appeared in front of Hope and she nearly dropped the paintbrush she was holding. She'd been standing there trying to put the last minute touches on a homemade holiday gift when the thought intruded and now all she could do was stare.

"Mom?" she asked in a small voice. If she'd still needed to draw breath, she would have been holding it as she waited for some sign that she wasn't totally losing it.