Hope takes a quick glance at Josie. The brunette is standing on the other side of the classroom, talking to the teacher about god knows what. 

Josie is wearing tight black pants, a white button up shirt with a cute collar and a yellow jacket. Hope thinks it's not fair. Nobody should look that good while wearing yellow. That's not a color that makes someone hot, but Josie Saltzman manages to pull it off. 

Hope knows she's staring, but she can't help it. It's been three days since their first kiss, and two days since their last one. Freya, Alaric and Caroline made them swear they wouldn't get closer until Freya and Keelin would get to Mystic Falls. 

Hope's aunt insisted to be there when the claiming would happen. It's actually the only thing that made Josie's parents to accept the claim.  Freya said she'd make sure it would be safe for Hope, and for Josie. 

Freya would get to the school today, more like tonight, and Hope was just dying for her to finally be here. The tribrid missed spending alone time with Josie. She missed cuddling with Josie. She missed kissing Josie. 

"You staring at my sister is pretty gross Mikaelson." Lizzie says with a fake gag.

Hope rolls her eyes and decides to tease Lizzie a little.

"Soon, staring at your sister won't be the only thing I'll be doing." 

Lizzie looks like the idea is totally offending to her. She opens her mouth and then closes it. Hope smirks, happy she finally managed to shut the blonde girl up. 

"What's going on here?" Josie says as she sits down next to Hope. 

"Your girlfriend is being disgusting and putting horrible images in my head!" Lizzie groans. "I'm out of here."

Josie's mouth hangs open, and her eyes go wide. She quickly turns to Hope, looking totally panicked.

"I swear I didn't tell her you're my girlfriend."

Hope smirks and shakes her head. "You don't want me to be your girlfriend then."

"That's… not what I said." Josie says, a light blush forming on her cheeks as she looks down. 

Hope reaches out and gently places a strand of Josie's hair behind her ear, carefull as to not expose her neck as she's doing so. That's another thing they promised. Josie would keep her hair down to cover her neck as to not tempt Hope, and they both would hide their marks. Just to make sure Hope would stay in control until they'd go through with the claim.

Hope smiles and nods. "Then what do you want Josie?"

"I-I want to know what you said to Lizzie."

All of a sudden, Hope's confidence fall. She wasn't expecting this. She really didn't mean for Josie to hear what she said earlier. She only said that to tease Lizzie. 

"You're blushing! Oh my god, Hope what did you say?" Josie says barely containing her laughter.

"I told Lizzie that I would soon be doing way more than stare at you." Hope says, avoiding Josie's eyes.

Now, Josie can't help it, she starts laughing. Hope quickly looks up, a fond smile growing as she sees her soulmate look so free. 

"Miss Saltzman! Please be quiet, or I'll have to ask you to leave class and inform your father." Their teacher scolds Josie.

Josie's eyes grow big, she puts a hand over her mouth to contain her laughter and nods to let the teacher know she'll stop. With one last glare at Hope and Josie, the teacher looks back to the board. Hope's eyes go back to Josie, and the fond smile comes back. Josie takes her hand off of her mouth, and returns Hope's smile.

Slowly, the tribrid moves her hand on the desk, getting closer and closer to Josie's. Hope can see that the brunette is doing her best to focus on what the teacher says, but her eyes betray her. Every few seconds, the siphoner's eyes flicker to look at Hope's slowly approaching hand. When the tribrid's pinkie actually intertwine with Josie's, Hope hears the brunette actually stop breathing for a second or two. 

Hope smirks. A couple of weeks ago, she was avoiding Josie at all costs, and now she was making her a blushing mess by just touching her pinkie. She thinks about how such a little amount of time can change everything. 

Then, Josie takes her hand away and Hope frowns. She's relieved when Josie just wipes her hand on her pants and then takes Hope's whole hand in hers. The brunette's eyes don't leave their teacher, but the blush on her cheeks is enough for Hope. Tonight, they'll finally get to be together.

Hope is just waiting for that moment to come, and then she'll ask Josie to be her girlfriend.

She's determined to protect Josie at all cost. Her soulmate would never be harmed again.

*

"Mikaelson!"

Hope stops and turns around, surprised to see Penelope Park standing behind her. The short haired witch looks pissed, but carefull. 

"We need to talk." Penelope says.

"Actually, I was heading-"

"That was not me asking, that was me demanding."

Hope rolls her eyes and crosses her arms. "Fine, talk."

Penelope looks around before shaking her head as she clutches a book to her chest.

"Not here."

Hope sighs, then she turns around and makes a sign to tell Penelope to follow her. The tribrid leads them to her room, and closes the door behind them after Penelope walked in. That's when Hope really gets a good look at the book in the witch's hands. It's not really a book, more like a journal.

Penelope's eyes follow Hope's. "That's part of what I want to talk to you about."

The tribrid frowns, suddenly very curious. "Okay, then talk."

"I heard something really… interesting. You and Josie are soulmates."

Hope's frown deepens, nobody except their families were supposed to know that. The tribrid takes two steps closer, ready to threaten the witch.

Penelope rolls her eyes. "No need to get all wolfie on me Mikaelson. I won't tell."

"And why wouldn't you?" Hope asks, not trusting Penelope at all.

"Because, you might not believe me, but I do love Josie. I wouldn't do anything that could hurt her." 

Hearing Josie's ex-girlfriend say those words spark a very jealous feeling in Hope's chest. Suddenly, images of Josie's fifteenth birthday comes to the tribrid's mind, and she feels like tearing Penelope apart. 

"Hope… your eyes, they're gold." The witch says, fear slowly seeping in her voice.

Hope quickly turns around, hiding her face from Penelope. She closes them, and breathes deep. She needs to gain control over her wolf again, she can't hurt Penelope. Not over a thing that happened more than a year ago. The witch stays away from the tribrid, leaving room for Hope to breathe. 

After a couple of minutes, Hope feels okay again. Her anger and jealousy disappear and she feels like herself again. Slowly, she turns around to face Penelope again.

"A-are they blue again?" Hope says, her voice shaking.

Penelope nods. "Uh, yeah. Are you okay?"

Hope swallows the lump in her throat. "I have some troubles with my wolf."

"Oh, okay." Penelope walks closer. "Do you want me to keep talking now?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Like I said, I know you and Josie are soulmates. I need to tell you why I broke up with Josie." 

"I feel like you're trying to make me angry again." Hope says, almost growling.

"No! I just… I didn't fell out of love with her. I broke up with her because I loved her." Penelope sighs. "Look, just read the pages I bookmarked in this journal."

Hope hesitantly takes the journal Penelope is handing her. She quickly turns the pages to find the ones that have been bookmarked. But as she turns the pages, a frown appears on her face. There's so many handwriting in the journal. It's only when she recognize her own that she stops. It's not only her handwriting, it's a part of her own journal.

Hope lifts her head to glare at the raven haired girl.

"It's exactly what you think. I gave you all a pen on Christmas last year. Everytime someone writes with them, it appears in this book." Penelope rolls her eyes when Hope keeps glaring at her. "Don't look at me like that, I'm pretty sure you'll be thanking me in a couple of minutes."

Hope decides to just keep looking through the book, and she goes straight to the bookmarked pages. She goes over them quickly, her frown deepening with every word. 

"What's the Merge?"

"Can't you read Mikaelson? It's like a curse, and it was placed on the twin's coven." Penelope says, avoiding Hope's eyes. "It's a mental battle. When twins turn 22, they have to go through with it. The stronger twin basically kills the weakest one, and they become one. That's how the leader of the Gemini coven is chosen."

Hope isn't sure she's hearing things right. One of the twin is gonna die on the day of their 22nd birthday? 

"The twins, they don't know about this, right?" Penelope shakes her head. "Who wrote all of this?"

"I'll let you guess."

Hope shakes her head. "No, it can't be. Dr. Saltzman wouldn't keep something like that from his own daughters."

"You don't believe me? Well, read the last lines he wrote."

I can't tell the twins. I have to protect their innocence. I have to protect them from tearing each other apart. I'll keep this a secret as long as I don't find a way to stop it. There has to be a way.

"See, I'm not lying." Penelope says.

"What does any of this have to do with your relationship with Josie?"

The witch looks down. "I thought that by breaking up with her, I could force her to stand up for herself. But it just seems like she became even more codopendant." Penelope looks up and straight into Hope's eyes. "I need you to make sure nothing happens to her. You need to make sure the Merge doesn't happen, and if it does… you need to make sure Josie wins."

"I'm gonna stop this. You can count on it." Hope says. 

*

The tribrid can't help but glare at Alaric as she's sitting by Josie's side in his office. They're all waiting for Freya and Keelin. The women called them a few minutes ago to tell them they were getting close to the school. 

Her eyes are still on Josie's father when the brunette places her hand on top of hers. It's the first time Hope looks away from Alaric since she sat down. The Mikaelson girl looks to her right, meeting the soft brown eyes of her soulmate.

"What's wrong? You're tense." Josie says, worry clouding her voice.

"I,uh, nothing." Hope answers, giving her best fake smile to the brunette. "I was just… thinking."

Hope looks Josie in the eyes, begging her to just drop it. She doesn't want to bring the Merge up now. They needed to focus themselves on one thing at a time. First, they'd get through the claim and hopefully her wolf would calm down. Then, Hope would confront Alaric about the Merge. And finally, they'd tell the twins about it all. 

Josie's soft smile drops, but she doesn't insist. The brunette tries to take her hand away, but Hope tightens her hold on it.

"I'll tell you. Just not now."

Josie takes a shuddering breath. "Okay."

A soft knock on the door keeps Hope from trying to comfort Josie. Caroline quickly goes to open the door, and as soon as Freya and Keelin get through the door, Hope runs to them. Soon enough, Hope is being engulfed in a strong hug from the two women. It takes them a couple of minutes to actually let go of each other. It's been way too long since they last saw each other. 

When they pull apart, Freya wipes the happy tears from her cheeks. Then, the woman looks around before leaning into Hope's ear.

"She's cute, you got lucky."

Hope blushes. "Yeah, totally."

Then Freya talks loud enough for everyone to hear. "Shall we plan this claiming?"