Hope rushed after Josie when she saw the events unfold in the cafeteria. Josie had never been that volatile before, confusing Hope as to why she was acting like this.

Did it have something to do with the night before at the lake?

"Josie, please let me in. Let me help." Hope pleaded through the door.

She was received with silence, but her enhanced hearing detected smothered sobs behind the door.

Hope finally gave up after 15 more minutes of pleading, resting with her back against the siphoner's door. She closed her eyes imagining that it was all her fault that Josie was like this.

She should have never gone to the lake last night and should have gone back to New Orleans. But that wasn't something she could fix instantly, so Hope was stuck here, back against the wall, with what-ifs constantly circling her brain.

Unbeknownst to her, Josie was in the same position on the other side of the door–back against the door with her eyes closed, trying to suffocate her sobs.

That incident in the cafeteria lingered in Hope's mind for the rest of the week. Josie was obviously avoiding her, ducking into empty classrooms or averting her eyes whenever the tribrid was around.

On one occasion, Josie used Lizzie as a human shield, moving her sister in between the two so that she could escape the library without having to interact with Hope.

With Josie avoiding her, Hope had never felt more isolated. Everyone else at the school was distant with her, even with their memories.

Because of her lack of friends, other than Lizzie–but even she spent most of her time with Josie–she would usually have a routine. Wake up. Breakfast. Train. Classes. Snack. Homework. Dinner. Sleep.

Hope knew it would be sooner or later before Alaric called her up for help for some monster, even though he wasn't headmaster any more. And she was right.

On a Saturday morning, days in which Hope usually slept in, she heard a loud knock on the door. Disregarding her appearance, she grudgingly got up out of her bed making her way towards the door. "Hang on, I'm coming."

Her eyes widened at the sight of the Saltzman twins, dressed and standing cheerfully outside her door. It was 6:30 in the morning. Hope didn't want to deal with this right now.

After Hope's slight roll of her eyes, Lizzie started: "Our dad wants to see all of us right away. He suggested that we get ready to meet him in Town Square at 7."

Hope's two functioning brain cells managed to let out a yawn, "I'll go, but did you have to come this early?" Hope led Lizzie and Josie to the time on the clock with her eyes, raising her eyebrows as if to ask them if it was truly necessary.

Josie spoke up. "It sounded important."

It was the first time Hope heard Josie speak since the lake, and that had been at least a week ago. Hope's eyes lingered on Josie after her comment. To Hope, Josie looked just as disheveled as her: her eyes couldn't stay on one subject for long, constantly jumping from one item to the next, but never meeting Hope's.

She stood cross armed and closed off from both her and her sister. Perhaps the past week was just as tolling on her.

When Hope had the door almost close, she caught a glimpse of Josie staring dolefully back at her, making brief eye contact before averting her eyes once more. To Hope, this was a baby step in the right direction, towards amending whatever had broken between them.

Within 15 minutes, Hope met Alaric outside of the local coffee shop situated in downtown Mystic Falls. "I know this might be a little too early–"

"Do you think?" Lizzie interrupted, rolling her eyes. Alaric only gave her a warning with a stern stare before continuing.

"I thought you all would want to be involved with any more monster issues."

Without hesitation, Hope blurted out, "Of course. I think it would be good for me–or, um, all of us–to get back into the monster hunting routine." She wanted to sound interested in the proposition, but not desperate. After the week Hope had just had, she needed this distraction.

"Thanks for actually telling us about it instead of letting us figure it out on our own," said Josie, her arms still crossed the same as in the morning. Lizzie only nodded in complete agreement with her sister.

It was completely understandable to Hope: the annoyance the twins felt in regards to monsters. Hope was the one Alaric usually went to for help, not his own daughters. He even put his life at risk with the gargoyle, not to mention the countless times he didn't directly tell the girls about a monster and they had to figure it out themselves.

Alaric simply looked down at the coffee he ordered, realizing that he deserved the criticism he received, even from his own daughters. He was voted out as headmaster because he put kids in danger, and that's something he will never live down.

His next comment gained everyone's attention, making any other concerns fall to the back of their minds, "I think Landon might be in trouble. Before you ask, I asked some of the witches to do a locator spell because I still feel responsible for him since I introduced him to this world. It looks like he made his way south and recently ended up in Savannah, Georgia, but something big has been following him."

Josie was the only one to start asking questions, "Isn't that a good thing? At least we know he's the source of attraction of the monsters, meaning that as long as he's not here, Mystic Falls and the boarding school are safe."

Hope glanced towards Josie with a raised eyebrow. She had never heard Josie speak like this, with disregard for someone else's safety, nonetheless someone she was once friends with, or even dated. Josie was the most caring person Hope knew, but this Josie was different.

Had she changed that drastically since she jumped into the Malivore pit?

"Yes, but we can't just let him fend for himself if something this big and threatening is after him. Besides, I've been keeping an eye on Triad ever since we've discovered Malivore, and they have been moving heavy equipment towards Savannah. This can only mean that they're trying to prevent something bad from happening or they're trying to cover up something bad that has already happened."

With a pause, Alaric stood up from his seat and got out his keys. "So, who's up for a road trip?"

"It sounds like we don't have much of a choice," said Hope and Josie in accidental unison, prompting them to make brief and awkward eye contact for the second time today.

Lizzie had her hand over her forehead and with snark in her voice, she said, "Of course, the mop-headed elf needs saving again."

"Great. We leave in 10 minutes," said Alaric, "I also enlisted Sebastian to go. I'll use this to test his true intentions."

Lizzie's eyes grew wide, but nothing came out of her mouth. Almost immediately, everyone piled into the van, Alaric driving, Lizzie and Sebastian in the middle, and Hope and Josie stuck in the far back.

Two hours into the trip and everything seemed to be going smoothly. Alaric surprisingly zoned out the teenage gossip with a podcast and his headphones because he didn't seem to notice Lizzie and Sebastian's obvious and incessant flirting going on barely two feet behind him.

Josie and Hope were confined to the crowded back seat, with nothing but a lingering sense of growing tension building between them.

Hope could no longer stand the silence that filled the air between the two of them, and asked what was raging in her mind for the past week, "Are you ok?"

It was a simple question, however, Josie seemed to struggle when trying to find the answer. "Yes," she mumbled out, apprehensively.

"You know I don't believe you. You haven't been the same since that Alyssa incident."

"That doesn't matter anymore, Hope. Let it go."

"Let it go? Josie, you've never acted like this before. I want to be there for you."

"Maybe I'm a different person now Hope. I don't need you hovering over me just like my dad. I mean you saw me at the football game…" Josie paused, not knowing where to head with their conversation, "I'm not the same innocent, well-behaved witch anymore. You need to let that side of me go."

"Josie, if you would just–"

Josie grabbed Hope's wrist and subconsciously began to siphon from her, "God, just drop it Hope," almost yelling, but loud enough to get everyone's attention.

Hope shrieked, partly because of the pain from Josie's siphoning, but mainly from the surprise. She pulled away quickly and stared at Josie like she was looking at something foreign.

Josie slumped down in her seat with all the eyes on her, but mainly because she realized what she had just done to Hope. She didn't meet Hope's concerned stare as she put her headphones back in to block out everyone.

Another hour had passed, everyone's attention had been off the two girls for quite some time now, but Hope was still staring at Josie as if she didn't recognize the girl at all.

One step forward. Two steps back.

In Savannah, Alaric went directly to the address the witches gave him. This address was located in the historic district of the city, which was laced with history and local folklore. While the day was humid, there was something else oddly hazy that surrounded the city.

Alaric came to a stop at a colonial style brick row house and knocked. When the door opened, he was greeted by a middle aged woman, "Hi, my name is Alaric Saltzman. I'm looking for my nephew, he sent me this address to pick him up. His name is Landon Kirby."

"Landon? Oh yes, he said he was going to the farmer's market today, but he should be back soon. My name's Martha, I'm the owner of this bed and breakfast. Why don't you come in and make yourselves at home."

Lizzie let out a snide comment under her breath but loud enough for the rest of them to hear, "Southern hospitality at its finest."

The lady led everyone towards the living room which was decorated with Victorian furniture and old paintings that looked like they were from the 19th century.

Alaric started, "Did Landon come here with anybody?"

"No, it was just him," replied the lady.

"That means Raf is missing," Hope whispered.

Alaric looked towards her with a nod, giving permission to look around the house for any threats. "Where's your bathroom?" asked Hope.

Martha pointed, "Down that back hallway and to the left dear."

Hope slowly made her way towards the direction Martha pointed. The hallway was dimly lit and the paintings seemed to follow movement down the hallway as if they were spying.

As Hope reached out for the handle on the bathroom door, she was surprised to see it open with none other than Roman standing in the doorway.

Immediately, he pulled her in and shoved her up against the wall, keeping his forearm against her neck and positioning his other hand over her mouth so she wouldn't scream.

"Hope," his voice trailed off, "you shouldn't be here. It's not safe."

He slowly removed his hand from her mouth but kept his other arm right where it was, against her collarbone, "What do you mean it's not safe? And what are you doing here? I thought you were in Europe to help Caroline."

"It's a long story, Hope. I don't have time to explain it all."

"You have me pinned up against a wall Roman. I'm not going anywhere and I'm sure as hell not letting you leave until you spill."

"Fine. Yesterday, two major covens here got into a fight when Landon stole something. I don't know what he stole but one coven thinks the other stole it. Luckily, I found him in time and told him to lay low here until the tensions die down, but he left early without telling me. I was just about to leave to search for him. One of my contacts here just told me that the witches are planning something dangerous, or they've already cast something without us knowing, so I've got to go and find him before he gets hurt."

Roman turned to leave but Hope grabbed his shoulder pulling him with enough strength that he stumbled forward, only catching himself with one hand placed on the wall next to Hope's head and the other on her hip. "Wait, why are you trying to help him? I thought you hated him."

He sighed before finally answering, "For you Hope."

He stared deeply into her eyes with compassion that she had seen only once before from him. "I know how much he means to you. Even though he won't choose between you and Josie, he still loves you Hope. I gotta go."

He leaned in one final time, placing a placid kiss against her cheek, before speeding out the back door of the bed and breakfast.

Hope had completely lost focus of what Alaric instructed her to do as she was caught up in her feelings. Seeing Roman was the boiling point for her after being isolated for the past week back in Mystic Falls. He only reminded her of what her past life was like.

With all these old memories resurfacing, Hope was beginning to fall off the edge, resulting in a mental breakdown. She's had these "panic attacks' 'ever since she got out of Malivore and she would usually wolf out to deal with them, but she couldn't here.

Hope jumped back at a slight knock on the door, before it opened, revealing Josie, the last person Hope wanted to see.

"Hope…" Josie called out, her voice questioning but not in a badgering way.

The Mikaelson girl looked up and met Josie's eyes. Instinctually, she moved back in the total opposite direction of the girl, with the intention of not wanting to hurt her.

"Get out Josie!" yelled Hope. She stumbled backwards until she couldn't anymore as her back hit the wall.

Josie continued to slowly walk towards the tribrid, reaching out to hold her head between her hands in an attempt to calm her down.

"I'm not okay Josie. I could hurt you." mumbled Hope who tried to push Josie's hands away from her face. She was only returned with more vigilant efforts from Josie who disregarded everything the tribrid said.

"No Josie, you can't. Everything's so messed up right now. I can't think straight and I don't know what I could do. I can't take that risk, not with you. Please just lea–"

Suddenly, Josie grabbed the Mikaelson witch by the waist and brought their lips together in a soft kiss, taking Hope off guard. The stiffness in Hope completely faded as she eased into the kiss, placing her hands behind the siphoner's neck.

Her breathing steadied and she stopped trembling in Josie's hands. Hope leaned into the kiss, finally pushing back passionately and with enough force to move Josie up against the sink.

The tribrid moved her hands from the nape of Josie's neck to her thighs so that she could lift her up on the sink's counter.

Josie willingly obliged.

Both were so immersed in the kiss that all their worries fell away. The monsters. The past week. Everything. Time had just stopped.

Hope's hands moved up the siphoner's thighs towards her hips, before finally breaking apart for air.

The two remained tangled together, pressing their foreheads against one another.

Hope's erratic breathing turned into heavy breathing. She was about to reconnect their lips, as Josie sat in disarray on the bathroom counter, but they were interrupted by screams coming from the living room.

The two quickly were cast out of their trance, staring at one another like they both didn't know what had just happened.

Another scream prompted them to run back to the living room. They were greeted with the sight Sebastian on the ground, knocked out, with Lizzie kneeling by his side.

The host of the bed and breakfast and Alaric hostage with a knife to his throat.

Martha spoke up, "By order of the Chatham coven, surrender your friend and we will let you live."

Right after, the front door opened to show Landon and Roman, "Bad timing?"