"Josie, I'm not sure it's a good idea." Alaric says, looking between his daughter and Hope. 

"Yeah, this is a terrible idea." Hope says as she crosses her arms clearly not pleased.

Josie frowns. "Dad! You always said you'd train Lizzie and I if we're willing to train with Hope. Now I'm willing to train with Hope, so train me."

Hope rolls her eyes. "The situation changed, and I'm way too powerful to train with a human now."

Josie glares at Hope, so angry that the older girl refuses to spend time with her. Hope glares back, frustrated that Josie refuses to keep her distance. Alaric feels trapped between them. He wants his daughter to be happy, but he can't force Hope to be with Josie. 

"How about, we try today, and if it doesn't work, we don't do it again?"

"That's fine with me." Hope says with a sigh.

"Yeah, with me too, but only if you keep in mind that I never did this before." Josie says.

Alaric looks between the two girls, runs a tired hand over his face and sighs.

"Let's do this."

To everyone's surprise, Josie handles herself fine. She's a fast learner, she listens and do as she's told. Hope can see the brunette is quickly getting tired though, but endurance comes with time. When the session is done, Hope hasn't break a sweat but Josie is visibly tired. The Saltzman girl is kinda out of breath, and looks relieved that it's over.

"So…" Josie says, and pauses to catch her breath. "Can I come back tomorrow?"

Her question is directed to Hope, and the auburn haired girl quickly looks elsewhere. The auburn haired girl busies herself with drinking huge sips of her water bottle. 

"You're welcome to join us tomorrow morning, right Hope?" Alaric says, directing a glare at his student.

Hope stops drinking and looks at the man. "I guess."

"Good, now I'll head back to school. Be civil girls, okay?"

"Yes dad." 

Hope forces a smile and nods. The man leaves, and then Hope quickly puts her things back inside her bag, determined to leave as soon as she could too. 

"What did you think? It wasn't that bad, right?"

Hope turns to her right and is kinda startled to see Josie so close to her. She gives the brunette a little smile and a nod, then looks back down to close her bag. From the corner of her eyes, Hope can see the smile on Josie's lips, and it makes her want to turn around so bad. Fighting herself and staying away from Josie proved to be harder than she thought it would be. The thing is, Josie doesn't accept to be ignored. 

"Could you at least talk to me? We agreed to be friends, didn't we?"

"You did good Josie." Hope sighs out as she puts the strap of her bag on her shoulder.

The Mikaelson girl starts to walk towards the school, quickly followed by Josie. The brunette walks to Hope's side, and the tribrid can actually feel the younger girl's eyes on her. 

"Can you stop that?" Hope asks, irritated.

"Stop what?"

"Looking at me."

Josie rolls her eyes. "Oh, I can't ever look at you now."

"Not like that!"

"Like what?" 

"Like you're waiting for something. Like you want me to say or do something. Just… stop it." 

To Hope's total surprise, Josie stops walking. The tribrid almost stop too, but instead she looks over her shoulder. She's surprised to see Josie heading in another hallway. Hope turns her head to look ahead of herself. For a moment, she feels relieved. Relieved because Josie finally understood that they're better off separated. However, an oddly familiar pain soon fills her chest and Hope's heart sink. Josie must be crying because of her. Again. 

Instead of heading to class, Hope goes straight to her room. As soon as the door is closed, Hope throws her bag on the other side of the room. The pain is unbearable. The Mikaelson girl gets under her blanket and curls herself into a ball. She just needs it to stop.

*

To Hope's total surprise, Josie keeps coming back to their training sessions. Every day the girl gets better, and Hope can't help but feel a little bit proud of her soulmate. 

The only thing that bugs Hope is the fact that Josie is taking her distance now. The brunette hasn't tried to make conversation with her for about a week now. Josie only speaks to Hope when she absolutely needs to. There's no lingering looks anymore, no small talk. 

After a total of ten days of this "Josie" silent treatment, Hope can't take it. Deep down, she knows Josie still cares. She feels her pain almost every night (even if now, Hope is starting to think this pain is partly her own). But Hope just needs to be sure. She needs to know Josie is not just shutting her out.

Alaric had to leave early today. He said something about finding Landon's mother. So, he left the girls alone to train, knowing full well Hope can handle training Josie. The Mikaelson girl has been wondering how she could get Josie to talk to her since the brunette always seems to disappear after their training time. 

So Hope decides to take advantage of their training time. As soon as she can, Hope sends Josie to the ground, as gently as she can. She quickly gets on top of the younger girl, using her weight to pine her to the ground. Josie tries to set herself free, but she doesn't manage to. It's then that she seems to realize that Hope did it on purpose. Josie stops struggling and looks into Hope's eyes, and that when Hope decides to speak.

"You're giving me the silent treatment now?"

Josie rolls her eyes. "I'm only giving you what you want."

Hope frowns. "I never asked you to stop talking to me."

"No, but you asked me to stop looking at you. So I stopped." Josie tries to push Hope off of her one more time and groans when Hope doesn't move. "Get off!"

Josie uses her hands to try and push Hope off, but Hope is having none of it. She uses both of her hands and pines Josie's hands to the ground.

"I feel your pain every night." Hope says, her face closer to Josie's than it was before.

Josie doesn't avoid Hope's eyes, instead she looks straight into them. It feels like Josie's looking straight into Hope's soul, and the Mikaelson girl couldn't look away even if she tried.

"That's only fair since you're the one hurting me." Josie says, her voice stone cold.

Josie's words are like a slap to Hope's face. The tribrid's hold loosen and Josie takes her chance to switch their position. Now that she's on top, Josie rests her hands on Hope's shoulders. When the Mikaelson girl looks up at the brunette, Josie can see the vulnerability in Hope's eyes. 

"Everything would be so simple if you'd only let yourself care."

It doesn't take a second for Hope to reply. "I've always cared."

Josie frowns, confused because it's clear to see Hope's being honest. The Saltzman girl straightens herself, but her eyes stay on Hope. The auburn haired girl doesn't move, and she doesn't try to free herself.

"If you care, then why don't you show it?" Josie asks, her voice suddenly a lot smaller than before.

"I told you. You'd be in danger by being with me." Hope says.

Before Josie can say anything more, Hope sits up and it results with Josie sitting in Hope's lap. The Saltzman twin is about to move off of Hope, but then the tribrid gently puts her hands on Josie's back, keeping her close.

"I'd never forgive myself if you got hurt because of me." Hope sighs. "Our marks, they don't mean we have to be together. They mean-"

"They mean we complete each other." Josie cuts Hope. "They mean were two sides of the same coin, like the moon and the sun."

Hope is taken aback by what Josie took out of their marks.

"I did some research." Josie smiles and hesitantly lifts a hand until it's near Hope's face. Very delicately, the brunette puts a strand of auburn hair behind Hope's ear. "Did you?"

Hope swallows with difficulty. Their closeness is suddenly unbearable. Having Josie in her arms, touching her and being touched by her… It's driving Hope totally insane. She wonders if Josie feels the same. Hope tries to form a coherent answer, but then her eyes are attracted by the brunette's bare neck. Josie pulls her hair in a bun or in a ponytail for their training, which is smart, but gives Hope a perfect view of her neck. Something deep in Hope makes her want to mark Josie, to make her even more hers. It's the second time Hope feels it, the first one happened during Josie's birthday party.

"... you okay? Hope?" 

Josie's voice finally snaps Hope out of those thoughts. The Mikaelson girl gently pushes Josie off of her lap and stands up. She needs to wolf out. The tribrid doesn't even take her bag, she walks straight into the forest, quickly followed by Josie.

"Hope! Where are you going?" Josie yells from behind her. "Please don't shift."

The Mikaelson girl stops. 

"Why?" Josie doesn't answer, so Hope turns around and with a serious frown she asks again. "Why don't you want me to wolf out?"

Deep down, Hope knows why Josie doesn't want her to shift into her wolf form, but she needs the brunette to tell her. Josie looks down, avoiding Hope's eyes. The tribrid closes her eyes and takes several deep breaths to calm herself. When she's trusting herself again, Hope walks closer to Josie. As gentle as she can, Hope lifts Josie's chin up, making the brunette look at her.

"Josie, please."

"I can feel it when you change into your wolf form. It hurts… No, actually it's excruciating."

Hope takes a step back and then a second. She turns around, unable to face Josie anymore. Hope runs her hands in her head, trying to keep her calm. She can't believe how bad she's been hurting Josie in the two weeks. She's been shifting almost everyday to take the edge off and to be able to take Josie's emotional pain. 

When Hope feels Josie hand on her shoulder, her reaction is to pull away. Then, she turns around and looks at the brunette with wide eyes.

"I'm so sorry. I had no idea it was hurting you."

Josie shakes her head. "I should have said something. It's my fault."

"Please stop!" Hope yells. "I should have seen it. I was so focused on myself that I totally forgot to think about you. If I can feel your pain, of course you can feel mine. I'm so stupid."

"Don't say that… Just, try and shift less often, okay?" Josie gives Hope a little smile. "I-I just want to be with you. Which way is up to you. I'd be happy to just be your friend, but you have to let me in."

Hope sighs, but she smiles after that. "I'll try, but only if you promise to tell me when something hurts you."

Josie's smile gets bigger. "I promise, but I need you to promise something to me too." Hope nods. "Promise me you won't push me away again."

Hope swallows hard but nods. "Again, I'll try."

"That's not good enough. Promise me."

"I promise."

"Good. Now, can we go back to school? I'm exhausted, and I could definitely use a shower."

Together, they walk back to school in comfortable silence. Josie looks at Hope sometimes, stealing glances. Hope can feel it, but this time she doesn't say anything. She'd have to accept this kind of attention now. 

They walk by their training dock and quickly get their bags before heading to school. After they walk through the doors, they say their goodbyes. Hope notices how bright Josie's smile is and it makes her want to smile too. She walks back to her room alone, but with butterflies flying around her stomach. 

She's in so much trouble, and now there's no going back.