Toxic

Family

"Call me when you land," Hope gave Josie a hug and a kiss.

Josie and Lizzie were going away for the weekend to Europe to visit their mom.

"No, she will not call you," Lizzie glared at Hope and pulled her sister away. "Josie will be taking a nice, not long enough, overdue break from you."

"I'll text you," Josie mouthed as she was helplessly dragged away by her sister.

Hope sighed as she walked back to her room alone.

"Auntie Freya?" Hope opened the door and saw her aunt standing in the middle of her room. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm astral projecting to speak with you about a $10,000 charge that went through under your name," Freya looked at her in disapproval.

"I bought a nice necklace for my girlfriend," Hope shrugged. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"Yes, Hope, there is," she was blunt.

"Why? It's not like it put a dent in the Mikaelson money."

"It's not about the money. It's about what you did that you're using it mask."

"What are you talking about?" Hope stared at her with wide eyes, looking uncannily like her dad.

"You hurt her, did something you shouldn't have, I just know it. And now you're trying to buy her forgiveness."

"No, I'm not," Hope denied. 

"You're manipulating her," Freya said definitively.

Hope sat there frozen in distress. She recognized how Freya's words echoed the ones Lizzie said to Josie, and she started to question if maybe it was true.

"I, I don't mean to," Hope finally let out, her voice broke and was full of sadness. "I just, I don't know how else to keep her."

"You know, your father had the same problem," Freya mused. "He systematically hurt the people that he loved."

"It wasn't just my father. It seems like dysfunctional is a  Mikaelson family trait."

"It is," Freya nodded sadly in agreement. "Which is why it might be worth reaching out for help."

"No, I'm not doing that," Hope crossed her arms.

"If you don't, one day you're going to hurt Josie so badly that she won't come back. She'll break the cycle herself because you've left her so broken. 

"Myself, Rebekah, and Kol, we've all managed to build happy, healthy relationships. Don't you want that for yourself?"

"I just don't know how anyone can help me."

Several hours later, Lizzie and Josie's plane landed in Paris where their mother was waiting for them.

"Girls!" Caroline hugged them both tightly. "I've missed you both so much."

"We've missed you too," they accepted her embrace.

As they walked, Lizzie caught Caroline up on their football team, things going on around school, Alaric, and other such matters.

Josie, however, was preoccupied trying to get her international cellular plan to kick in so she could text Hope.

Lizzie reached over and swiped Josie's phone from her hand.

"Hey!" Josie yelled.

"No calling her, no texting her, we're not even going to mention her name," Lizzie decided.

"Who?" Caroline asked.

"Hope Mikaelson," Josie immediately answered.

"What did I just say?" Lizzie glared annoyed at her twin.

"Hope Mikaelson? Are you two a thing or something?' Caroline gave her daughter a knowing look.

"Yeah," Josie blushed. "We've been dating for a few months."

"And Lizzie's playing protective younger sister?" Caroline questioned.

"You have no idea," Lizzie said under her breath, earning her an elbow to the ribs from Josie.

"Well, from experience, the Mikaelsons are a fiery, passionate, and extremely loyal bunch."

"Dating her has been, intense," Josie confirmed.

"Most young love is," Caroline lets out a breath of nostalgia.

After about 5 minutes of repeatedly trying to get her phone back from Lizzie, Josie gave up. She resigned the fact that she would not have communication with Hope for the whole weekend.