I'd Choose You Over Anything

Chapter 1- You've Been Requested

It was a rainy night back in New Orleans. Hope was finishing up some of her previous works. She wasn't one to leave a job unfinished. The only reason she has so many papers was because of her boss. Her boss was Jackson Hudson. She wasn't a huge fan of him but he paid her more money than she should be getting.

She went through the papers and found a name that looked quite familiar. She read the name and saw it was about Alaric Saltzman. He was known as an alcoholic dad. She read alcohol on the paper as well and just placed the paper down. She didn't think much of it.

Hope's phone began to ring and she ignored that too. She was one to put work before other things. Which is why she hasn't been in a relationship ever since high school. She wasn't fond of dating back then and she wasn't looking forward to it in the future. She was more of a lone wolf as others might say. Nothing surprised her.

"Hope, Jackson needs to speak to you," one of her coworkers was next to her. She turned and smiled at her coworker and stood up.

"Tell him I'll be there in a minute." The coworker smiled back and left to go see Hudson right away. Hope sighed and picked up her phone. An unknown phone number has called her.

She put her phone on her desk and slowly made her way to Jackson's office. She knew she'd get in trouble but she didn't care. She was Jackson's best detective he'd ever have.

Once she opened the door, Jackson gently placed his pen down and motioned for Hope to take a seat. Hope sat down in the comfortable chair and crossed her legs.

"You've been requested," Jackson leaned back in his chair.

"Requested? To where?" Hope was genuinely confused. She didn't know how to react. Nobody has requested for her to leave New Orleans.

"Mystic Falls." Jackson stood up and grabbed a glass of bourbon. Jackson knew Hope never wanted to go back but business was business. Hope and him were great friends. Some would say they're best friends even if Hope wasn't his biggest fan.

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Josie had just gotten the news of her fathers death. She didn't exactly cry. She felt tears well up in her eyes but none of them fell. The police left Josie with great condolences and Josie slowly shut the door.

She made her way up to her room and Jade sat up. Josie sat down by Jade and gave Jade a small little hug. Jade hugged Josie and that's when Josie finally let the tears fall.

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Hope was packing up some things for the trip to Mystic Falls. After years of trying to escape that place, it somehow brought her back. It's like Mystic Falls was inescapable. She was truly trapped.

Jackson should've declined the offer of Hope being requested. She wished he did just that. She looked around her room and sighed. Freya showed up in the doorway.

"Where are you going?" Freya crossed her arms. Hope went back to packing her bags.

"Mystic Falls, I've been requested down there to solve a murder." Hope folded up some shirts.

Freya took the shirt from Hope and folded it for her. She could tell her dear niece was frustrated but she just didn't know why.

Hope didn't go into great detail when she came back to New Orleans. She kept it a secret. After the breakup with Josie, she went through a dark time in her life. But she got out of that once she started distracting herself with jobs.

"Why are you so frustrated? I thought you had an amazing time in Mystic Falls." Hope laughed at her aunts words. Hope never had an amazing time there. She just had to go there because her dads and uncle Elijah's jobs were getting too much. They thought they could protect her from danger if she wasn't near the house. Well, look where that got them.

"What happened there Hope?" Hope shrugged and grabbed more clothes to pack. She knew she moved on from Josie. She was happier with life in New Orleans.

"I graduated and all my friends there grew apart. Not much really happened. We're adults and we all go our separate ways." Freya gave Hope a disbelieving look. Hope ignored it and folded the clothes she had grabbed.

She wasn't ready to face Mystic Falls. She was anxious and felt very unprepared.

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Josie couldn't sleep after that terrible news. She was up all night, cleaning the house or even doing laundry. She wanted to distract herself.

Jade had come from upstairs. She kissed Josie's cheek and Josie didn't react in a lovingly way as she usually would. Jade made coffee and handed it to Josie.

"I've planned a trip for us." Josie took the cup from her loving wife and sat down at the table. She ignored Jade completely.

Jade sat down next to Josie and Josie took a sip of her coffee,"Jo did you hear me?"

Josie looked at Jade and she could see the hurt in Jade's eyes. She smiled and kissed Jade's forehead. Josie stood up and walked to the kitchen.

"I did hear you but I just have a million things on my mind right now. I should dust the ceiling fans." Josie placed her coffee on the counter.

Jade walked over to Josie and placed her hand on Josie's,"Would you like me to call off for today."

"That would be silly. Go to work, everything will be cleaned by the time you get home." Josie smiled and went back to work. Making sure that the house was spotless.

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Hope had arrived at the Mystic Falls police station. She knew Landon got a position here. Once she opened the door, everyone's eyes were on her.

"I'm looking for Landon Kirby." Everyone points to where Landon was. Hope thanked them and walked straight into the office.

"Hope. What a surprise. I thought you didn't want to come back?" Landon stood up and walked over to Hope.

"I've been requested to help you with a murder case." Landon nods and walks back over to his desk. He grabs the file and hands it to Hope.

"He's been sober ever since you left Mystic Falls so alcohol isn't the problem." Hope scoffed at the idea of Alaric being sober.

"Ric has a tendency of keeping things to himself. He wouldn't want anyone to know about his addiction. Only people who found out was-"

"The squad. I know. Mg and Lizzie left to Europe. They got married by the way." Hope smiled. She knew that they were endgame.

"I'm happy for them." Landon shoves his hands into his pockets.

"What about Rafael?" Hope looked at Landon and Landon shook her head and frowned a tiny bit.

"That bad?" Landon shakes his head, "Raf was more of an adventurous guy." Hope nods at that statement.

Hope opens the file and reads the file. Ric died with wine in his system. He wasn't much of a wine drinker, he was always a bourbon kind of guy.

"What are you thinking Hope?" Hope looked up from the file.

"Our suspect is a girl. So we have to dig deep into Alaric's life. He must've found someone for once but she killed him." Landon nods and Hope places the file back on Landon's desk.

"I'll get someone to look into it right away. For right now, go find a motel or something and relax. I'll give you a call if we find anything." Hope thanks Landon and walks out of the door.

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Josie was finished with cleaning. She grabbed some ice cream and laid on the couch. She didn't know what to do now but she also didn't want to mourn her father.

She stood up and there was a knock on the door. She walked over to the front door and opened it.

"I heard the news and I had to come visit." Lizzie hugged Josie and Josie hugged back. She was happy to finally see her sister again. It just sucked it had to be under these circumstances.