MONTH 5 OF PREGNANCY
SEPTEMBER 16, 2028
Of course someone had to freaking die, Nina thought.
She began her day with a nice breakfast with her wife, the two of them sitting outside of a cute cafe and looking at different baby clothes online.
They had planned on doing more nursery shopping today and setting the room up tomorrow, but Nina had gotten called into work as they were on their way over to the stores.
While any forensic scientist would be excited over such an interesting case, Nina was the complete opposite.
Nina is a pretty small girl. She's always been shorter than everyone her age - the height difference between her and Rebekah is adorable in her opinion. But once she got pregnant, she felt like she grew ten times the amount she was before. Nina assumed it had to be the sperm donor's doing, since the baby definitely didn't get the height from her. Her belly is huge compared to others at 5 months and although she loves being pregnant, it's already tiring her.
Nina groaned, letting the camera dangle from her neck while she massaged her lower back.
Bending down to take pictures and samples from the bodies was excruciating. It's not that she couldn't do it, because she was determined to, it's just the extra movement that was hard.
Her little boy was already kicking and she loves it. Rebekah is equally ecstatic, the two talking to him before they sleep and watching the little kicks.
Knowing procrastinating would make this even worse, Nina pushed away her pain and powered through, finishing up what she needed to do at the crime scene before heading back to the station.
The ride wasn't too long, but the baby seems to hate car rides. At every bump and turn he would go crazy and kick, making Nina want to throw up her breakfast.
As she was walking through the station doors, her phone rang; the song It's Not Living (If It's Not With You) by The 1975 filled the room. Thankfully, it was noisy and no one seemed to have heard.
Nina clicked answer and shuffled into her room, closing the door behind her.
"Hi, Bex," Nina hummed, balancing her phone between her ear and shoulder as she put her materials away.
"Nina?"
"What's wrong," Nina frowned, hearing the crack in Rebekah's voice.
Rebekah is one of the toughest people Nina has ever known. Throughout all of the years she's known her, she can count the amount of times she's seen her cry. And it wasn't that Rebekah was insecure crying in front of others, she just dealt with her emotions as best she could and didn't feel the need to cry.
When Rebekah didn't reply and only sniffled, Nina began to worry. What if something happened to one of her siblings? Did someone they know die?
Not caring about processing her findings from the crime scene, Nina promised she'd be home in ten minutes and rushed out of the station; making a mental note to apologize to her boss later.
But apologizing wasn't her first priority and it never will be. As much as she loves her job, nothing will ever come before Rebekah and their baby. Those two were the owners of her heart, the two people she'd do anything in this world for.
Making it back to their home in a record breaking seven minutes, Nina ignored the two dogs sleeping by the door and rushed through the house calling Rebekah's name.
As soon as she made it into the living room, she halted.
Rebekah was sitting on the couch, tears streaming down her face. On the one across from her sat Freya and a woman Nina hasn't recalled meeting before. But she seemed so familiar.
"What's going on?"
"Please sit, Nina," Freya said, her voice soft.
Hesitantly, Nina walked over to the couch and took the seat next to her wife.
"I'm going to perform a spell on you, okay? Before you say anything, it won't have any effects on the baby."
Not understanding what was going on, Nina simply nodded.
Taking a deep breath, Freya mumbled some words - Nina not even trying to understand what she was saying - and in seconds, she felt as if she were just hit in the head.
Memories flooded back, images of this girl. The girl who dragged Klaus away so she could talk to Rebekah. The girl who threw flowers down the aisle of her wedding. The girl who took her in as a part of her family. The same girl who was sitting across from her.
"Hope," Nina breathed, her eyes welling up.
Now she understood why Rebekah was so upset. It was months since any of them had thought of her.
As Freya began explaining why none of them could remember, something about this black hole, Nina couldn't stop looking at Hope.
Nina didn't grow up with a big family. She's an only child and her parents were never around much growing up. They were both surgeons at a local hospital and she was practically raised by nannies. Of course she loved them and they loved her, but sometimes it felt like she was alone.
Once she met the Mikaelsons, it felt like she was finally a part of a family. A dysfunctional one, yes, but a family nonetheless. A family that took her in even if she might've not deserved it at the time.
Someone that took her in the most, though, was Hope.
She had been kind since the beginning and always made Nina feel calm. Ever since the wedding, Nina always made it a mission to talk to Hope as much as she could.
Somehow, she could see herself in that young girl. Of course, she wasn't a tribrid and her parents hadn't died, but she felt like they could relate to each other. That they both had that feeling of being alone in this world.
So, Nina would always send texts checking up on her - whether that be asking how her classes were going or talking about hot people in new shows. Maybe it wasn't changing her life, but if Nina could help lessen that feeling, then she was more than happy to.
Suddenly, as if remembering, Nina looked down at her stomach before looking back to Hope.
"I'm pregnant," Nina gaped.
Freya stopped mid sentence, her eyebrows furrowing and her mouth shaped in an 'O'. Rebekah, on the other hand, let out a loud laugh, covering her face with her hands.
"I mean, obviously I am, but I never told you. Because I didn't know you existed," She cringed, "Oh no, that sounds bad."
Hope grinned, unshed tears in her eyes as well, "I could tell. I'm so happy for you both."
Not being able to handle it anymore, Nina sprang up from her spot and met Hope in the middle, hugging the daylights out of her. Well, as much as she could with her belly in the way.
"I'm sorry this happened for so long," Nina whispered in her ear, "I can't understand how you must be feeling."
"I'm okay, promise."
Nina nodded, pulling out of the hug but keeping her hands on Hope's arms.
"That school has put you through so much. What kind of monsters are these, anyways? We should pull you out... You can come live with us!"
Hope and Freya laughed, amused by Nina's suggestion. Only Rebekah was serious when she spoke up.
"I think Nina's right. Not pulling you out of the school, but for staying with us."
"I don't know if I can."
"You're still a kid, Hope." Nina offered a sad smile, "You may have all of these powers, but it's not up to you to save the world."
Hope opened her mouth to argue, but Nina shook her head, "No debates. You're taking a break and staying with us for a week."
Knowing there was no way out of this, Hope let out a defeated laugh and nodded; much to Nina and Rebekah's satisfaction.
"I have to start heading back to Keelin and Nik, but I'll be in touch."
With one last hug to Hope, Freya performed a spell and vanished.
"I'll start setting up the guest room," Nina said, wanting to let Rebekah and Hope talk.
Nina knows Rebekah adores Hope. Ever since she was born, Rebekah had always protected her. Along with the rest of the Mikaelson's, she's extremely protective over her; going as far as to interrogate Landon at their wedding for twenty minutes.
Walking up the stairs, a calm feeling settled over Nina. Finally, after months of missing memories and a weird ache in her chest, everything was back to normal.
hi :p
short chapter, but I couldn't stop thinking back to the epilogues of Bloodline while writing the scenes with Hope!!
Fun fact: I wanted to intertwine Lose It and Bloodline and have all those same characters, but I feel like it would be confusing to anyone who hasn't read my other books and I still didn't 100% have the ending of Bloodline planned out while writing Lose It.
Anyways, I have't updated in a while and I'm super sorry for that!!! I was mainly focused on finishing Bloodline and writing some more for my other new book, The Lakes, that I wasn't too focused on this book. Hopefully updates will be more frequent now.
Hope you're all having a lovely day/night!