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It's not that Lizzie lacked faith in the fact that she was important to Hope. For the most part, they got past that ages ago. After all those tears and arguments; almost dying because martyrdom was apparently an infectious disease; after the reckless kiss, Lizzie had planted on Hope's lips following her fresh breakup with MG when Hope had responded by pushing Lizzie against the nearest wall and showing her quite vehemently that yes, Hope did in fact return Lizzie's affections.
But. It did leave a mark - the way Lizzie had confessed her feelings for Hope again and again as Hope said nothing because she'd abandoned her humanity and felt nothing.
"Which wasn't even true," Hope admitted one night as they slept beside each other, under the stars, on top of some blankets in the woods where Lizzie had once brought her to scream out her feelings. "You were right, my darker side didn't want to admit it but I did have emotions. Anger, fear, rage... possessiveness."
They lay facing each other, clasping hands in a way that let Lizzie press her fingers against Hope's left wrist so that she could feel the evidence of her heartbeat, while Hope's other hand rested against Lizzie's neck, thumb running back and forth over the pulse point there.
It fluttered like the wings of a butterfly beneath Lizzie's skin.
She wondered what it said about her that there wasn't even a hint of discomfort. Hope had snapped her neck, ended her human life and yet all she could feel was being slowly soothed into sleep.
"Possessiveness?" she asked, trying not to sound too needy, far too used to ruining things by asking too much from people who didn't actually want Lizzie to show how much she wanted them to like her.
"Remember that nightclub where I brought you to drink?" Hope asked with a rueful smile, fingers still on her neck but now drawing little hearts across her skin. Lizzie felt her throat dry as something in her chest lurched toward the other girl.
"I guess?"
Hope had come over with a strikingly beautiful girl with red hair, who'd looked a little older than them. Hope's index and middle finger had been drawn through the loop of the girl's jeans - she remembered it far too well actually, because of the way something had soured inside Lizzie's belly before she'd been distracted by the hot pulse of fresh blood pumping under the redhead's freckled skin.
"You only let me drink a few mouthfuls before pulling me away," she furrowed her brows, remembering the whine she'd let out after barely being allowed to sate her hunger. "To teach me control, or something."
"I lied," Hope admitted and stared at Lizzie with a shadow of the Hope who'd been without humanity in her eyes. "She had her fingers in your hair, pressing you closer, I wanted to tear out her heart and crush it like a grape."
She said it so matter-of-factly Lizzie might almost have worried Hope's switch had been flipped again, were it not for the softness of her touch. That colder version of Hope had never touched Lizzie like this; as if Lizzie was precious.
Her hold had always involved the nails biting into her skin like she'd been trying to keep Lizzie in place, afraid that Lizzie would abandon her if she loosened her hold for but a moment.
And then Lizzie had. It wasn't a decision she could regret, she'd done it for Hope. But she couldn't help thinking that she'd somehow made all of Hope's fears come true when she'd gone.
"So," Lizzie started out, her tone leading as she pressed her own thumb tighter into Hope's wrist and a little nervously bit into her own lower lip, "you felt possessive."
"Jealous is a good word for it too."
"And now?" she asked, knowing Hope could feel her heart picking up speed under the press of her fingers. Hear it too but that was a more remote sense than touch. "How do you feel about me now, Hope Andrea Mikaelson?"
Hope's hand left its spot to stretch her fingers against the back of Lizzie's neck as she moved onto her knees to hover her face over Lizzie's, so close they began sharing the same individual air molecules.
"Now, Lizzie," Hope said and pressed her lips against Lizzie's own, before pulling back just enough to finish but still so close the movement of her lips felt like the lightest of kisses to her. "I rather think I love you."
She leaned into Hope, chasing her lips and letting out a low whine when Hope retreated a little to repeat herself again, "I love you."
Another kiss, another agonizing retreat, another whisper - this time against the shell of Lizzie's ear.
"I love you."
Lizzie gasped, loving the way her heart was filling to the brim, loving Hope, but too frustrated by Hope's teasing to let her continue. Instead, she grabbed her by the sides of her face and smashed their lips into the kind of kiss Lizzie was actually aching for. Somewhere past Lizzie's notice, she could hear their hearts start beating as one.