Everyone is at the Mikaelson mansion and Hope is upstairs coloring in her coloring book. They just got off the phone with Gabby and at the end she was acting strange. Shontae says "that was strange. Why was Gabby in such a rush to get off the phone?"
Alexis says "and we all know she wasn't talking about actual termites. Maybe it was her way of saying-" Brennon finishes her sentence "she wasn't alone." Damon gets up angrily and heads towards the door and Greg asks "where are you going?"
Damon says "I'm going to New Orleans and bringing her back here." Stefan says "Damon don't!" Damon turns around and says angrily "NO! Okay, I don't want her there! She needs to be here with us, where she's safe!"
Greg says "we know! We want the same thing, but Gabby made it clear she wasn't coming back until it was safe for Hope again. Gabby says she's sure she will make it through and we need to trust her."
Damon says "I do! It's those originals I don't trust! Especially considering that one of the enemies happens to be their older brother, Finn." Jontae says "and she did one time mention how her and Finn bumped heads once."
Damon says, pointing at Jontae "exactly! She doesn't belong there. She needs to come home and let the originals fight their own enemies." Alexis smirks "I don't know. She seems very taken with Kol as he does her. Maybe that's also one of the reasons she's there."
That struck a cord with Damon, Stefan, and Greg. They don't want their sister with an original, let alone Kol, of all the originals. He is just as bad as Klaus in everyone's eyes, but they don't get how Gabby sees good in them.
Stefan is actually starting to, but everyone is still processing it. Hope runs downstairs and says "hey look! I'm done coloring. What do you think?" Everyone looks at it and says "I love it!" "Nice!" "It's wonderful."
Hope smiles brightly and says "thank you! So, what are we doing today?" And Erin says "well, today is New Years Eve and we are going to have a picnic. And guess what? Since it's New Years, your curfew today is midnight."
Hope claps her hands excitedly and says "yay!" Elena says "okay, go get dressed. We're all ready. It's you who needs to get dressed. Hurry, if you want to get there in time." Hope squeals excitedly and runs upstairs to get ready and everyone chuckles at her excitement. Erin and Caroline go to help her.
After a few minutes, Hope comes down dressed in a long sleeve bow print top, leggings with sienna slouch boots and her hair in two twists. Stefan looks at his little girl in awe. He thinks She looks so adorable and grown up.
Caroline and Erin come down and say "come on! Let's go!" Everyone gets up and goes to their cars and drives to the park. Stefan and Jontae are the first ones there and they set everything up while Hope plays with her Olaf teddy bear Hayley gave her.
After everything is set up, everyone is here and ready. They come over to Stefan and Jontae and get out their blankets and lay them on the ground. Hope comes over and sits on Stefan's lap and everyone starts eating.
Stefan brought hotdogs, little turkey sandwiches (Hope's favorite), chicken nuggets -of course- and Capri suns. While they're eating, Hope is telling everyone how well Bonnie is teaching her magic.
Everyone hears a voice behind them "well, I'll be damned! Stefan Salvatore?" Stefan immediately recognizes the voice and says in a joking way "oh, you've got to be kidding me!" He turns around and sees his best vampire friend, Bryanna Stoddard.
She smiles at him and he gets up and hugs her and she hugs him back. Stefan and Bryanna were both friends with Lexi and have known each other for 153 years. Bryanna has been a vampire since 1420.
She was a witch until a random vampire turned her because he despised witches and wanted them to suffer. She struggled with it at first, but her father helped her through it.
They pull away from their hug and Bryanna says "long time no see. How are you?" And Stefan says "I'm good. How about you?" And Bryanna says "great. Hey Greg." Greg smiles at her and waves, but her smile falls when she sees Damon and instantly replaces her happy smile with a disgust expression.
She says bitterly with venom in her voice "Damon." Damon fake smiles and says "Bry!" She rolls her eyes at him. She hates him because she knows it was him that killed Lexi. So, she ignores him and asks, noticing Hope's presence "who's this sweet little girl?"
Hope smiles at her and says "my name is, Hope." Bryanna bends down so she's at Hope's height and holds her hand out for Hope to shake and she does. They smile at one another and Stefan smiles at that.
Bry gets back up and asks "well, what are you guys doing?" And Greg says "we're having a picnic. Please join us." She smiles and says "sure!" She sits down next to Stefan.
After a few minutes, everyone is done eating and is now playing frisbee with Hope. Hope loves playing frisbee. Bryanna walks away, leaving Stefan confused. He goes after her and when he sees she stopped by the lake nearby, he asks her "what's wrong?"
Bryanna says "I can't do it! I thought to myself maybe I can be around him and forgive him for what he did to Lexi, but I can't." Stefan knew now she was talking about Damon and how she can never forgive him for what he did to Lexi. She and Lexi were thick as thieves.
Bry turns towards Stefan and wipes away her tears while saying "I'm sorry, Stefan! I know he's your brother, but-" Stefan interrupts her "hey, it's okay! I know what he did was unforgivable. He's my brother, so I don't have a choice but to forgive him. Bry, I know you knew Lexi longer so of course I would expect you to not forgive him. Hell, I haven't totally forgiven him for it, but he's my brother. It's hard to hate him."
Bry smiles at him and says "I miss her! The other side is gone and... and I hope she found peace." Stefan smiles at her and says "she did. Bonnie saw her when she was the anchor to the other side. She found peace, Bry."
Bry smiles joyfully and says "good! That's really great! I just wish I could have said goodbye." Stefan pulls her into a hug and says "I know, but I know that she knows you miss her and love her."
Bry pulls away and wipes away her tears and says "so, tell me about Hope. I heard her call you "dad". What's going on?" Stefan sighs and decides to tell her everything. He knows he can trust her.
After he tells her everything, she is surprised by everything he just said and says "wow! Well, we got to protect this little girl. She's a pretty special kid. I know for a fact she's the only one that can save the hybrid-werewolf-vamp-beast that is Klaus Mikaelson."
Stefan nods his head and says "yeah, she's a special little girl." Then Bry asks "what about Gabby? Is she okay?" And Stefan says worried "yeah, she's been calling. But when we talked to her earlier she sounded weird. Like as if she was in danger."
Bry cares for Gabby and thinks of her like a sister, so she was worried too. She says "I'm sure she's fine. Right?" And Stefan says "I hope so." Bry smiles and says "let's go back to the others."
Stefan says "yeah, come on." They walk back to the others together. Elena is lecturing Damon about apologizing for what he did to Lexi. Elena was eavesdropping on their conversation and felt so bad for Bry. So now, she is making Damon apologize to her.
After a few minutes, Damon sighs and decides to apologize, so he walks towards them. Bry and Stefan stop walking and Bry looks away from Damon. Stefan asks while rubbing Bry's shoulder "what is it, Damon?"
Damon looks towards Bry, feeling genuinely bad and guilty for what he did "I'm sorry, Bry. I know how much Lexi meant to both you and Stefan. I should have never did what I did. I was rude, selfish, careless, and a jerk. I know it's going to take more than a sorry to make it up to you and Stefan for what I did to her. She didn't deserve it. I was an idiot and all I saw her as was collateral damage and for that I am so very sorry. I hope one day you will be able to forgive me."
Stefan and Bry are both shocked by everything he just said because they saw how much he meant it. He even surprised Elena a little. Bry and Stefan look at one another and Bry says "I believe that your sorry Damon, but I'm not ready to forgive you, at least not yet."
Damon nods his head in understanding and says "yeah, I get it." He walks back to the group along with Elena. Stefan and Bry look at one another surprised and say together "wow!" They walk back to the group.
Hope runs over to Bry and Stefan and asks "where did you two run off to?" They laugh and say together "just catching up." Hope smiles at them and Bry says "come on, let's play more frisbee."
Hope exclaims in excitement "yay!" She goes back to the others along with Bry and Stefan and they play more frisbee. After they play, they go to the zoo nearby and show Hope all the animals. Hope is fascinated by all of them, especially the Cheetahs. She likes how fierce they are.
After three hours of being at the zoo, they go to the Mystic Grill to eat. When they're done, Sarianna says "okay, it's almost time for the movie in the park. Let's go." Everyone goes back to the park and watches the movie.
The movie they are playing is called "Hocus Pocus". Greg apparently loves that movie and has not taken his eyes off it since it started playing. Hope loves it too. After the movie, everyone went back to the Mikaelson mansion.
As everyone waited for midnight to come, they chatted and told each other stories. When they got to the mansion, Hope changed into her PJ's. A while after 11:59, everyone counts down "5, 4, 3, 2, 1, HAPPY NEW YEAR!" Everyone blows their horns and drinks their drinks. Hope has a juice box and the adults have tequila.
They go outside and look at the fireworks and Hope looks at it in awe along with everyone else. Hope reaches out for Stefan so he can pick her up and he does. She lays her head on his shoulder.
Stefan smiles at his little girl as she is resting. He takes her up to her bed and tucks her in. He's caressing her hair slowly, while watching her fall asleep. Stefan thinks to himself I'll never let my little girl go.