🎵I hate...
Josie hums, tapping a pen as she tries to write new lyrics, experimenting with different chords on her piano.
🎵I hate the way you...
——————————————
Josie sits on the bench of the piano, in front of a small group of people who work for a small label who is considering signing her and the band.
"Okay, this one isn't finished yet, but it's a little something I've been working on..."
She plays the chords she'd written, singing the words once again inspired by her wife,
🎵
I hate the way you say my name.
I hate your picture-perfect lips, on mine.
If I could, I'd cut the breaks.
I hate that I can't help but stay, oh my..
And I hate the way...
I say words that I laughed at before
And I hate the way...
My thoughts aren't mine, now they're yours
Look at what you've created
Something borderline sacred
I call it overrated
Go on and call me jaded
'Cause I hate the way...
I say words that I laughed at before.
———————
Hope takes a few steps, holding on tightly to the bars at either side of her body, barely putting any weight on one of her legs, the one that was injured worse. Her wheelchair rests right behind her in case she were to fall back.
"Hey!"
She looks up to see Josie approaching with a smile plastered on her lips, and Hope returns it, leaning her body weight against one of the horizontal beams.
"Hi, you're back early," She observes. Josie had brought her to therapy this time.
Josie nods, "Yeah, I know."
Hope glances at her watch, "Well, I'm uh..I'm almost done—"
"No rush, Hope," Josie assures her.
Hope nods and goes back to one of her exercises, working her calfs a bit as she holds her weight up with her arms, pushing up onto her toes and back down to her heal repeatedly.
Josie smiles at her, "Look at you!...You're doing so much better already."
Before Hope can respond, she's distracted by a sound. A barking sound. As a large dog comes running their direction, MG following behind it.
Hope furrows her eyebrows in the direction, lowering herself to sit in her chair, "MG, you got a dog?"
The dog stops right in front of Hope's chair, sitting down.
MG chuckles, "Are you kidding me? No! She's for you," MG says, gesturing at the pet.
Hope's jaw gapes a bit, thinking it's a joke.
Josie grins, "Her name is Peaches. Isn't she cute?"
Hope just looks between the two, dumbfound.
Josie squats by the dog, "Paw," she commands, and the dog puts her paw in Josie's palm, "Shake," The dog moves it's paw up and down in Josie's hand now.
MG grins, "See? She's already trained and everything."
Josie explains, "We read that dogs can be really helpful in the healing process..." She says, standing to her feet a bit nervously as Hope crosses her arms disapprovingly, "Plus you're," She looks around before whispering to her wife, "part werewolf."
Hope shakes her head, "I don't want a pet."
Josie scoffs softly before taking Hope's hand and laying a leash on her palm, "Well too bad, because it's good for you."
Hope shakes her head again, dropping the leash, "I can decide what's good for me and what's not, Josie."
Josie crosses her arms, "You know, it's okay to accept help sometimes."
The dog senses Hope growing upset. She picks up the leash between her teeth, putting her paws up onto Hope's armrest and setting the leash in her lap with a tiny whine.
Josie gestures toward Peaches, "See? Peaches gets it," She chuckles at the dog, who puts her nose against Hope's cheek, poking into her gently.
Hope sighs as the dog whines again, shooting Josie a defeated look, "Fine. But I know you're doing this more for you than me," She calls the girl out.
Hope groans as the dog sticks out her tongue, barely licking her cheek.
And Josie only laughs, along with MG, "Good girl, Peaches."
————————————
The following day, Josie gets back home early in the morning after spending a couple of hours writing with the band, before Hope woke up.
She stopped by on the way home to get Hope and herself some coffee and breakfast as well.
She opens the door to the beach house calling out to her wife, "Hope?"
Peaches comes to the door quickly, taking an obedient seat in front of Josie.
"Peaches, where's Hope?" She asks, eyeing an empty wheelchair in the living area, as if the dog can respond.
"Hello?" She calls out again, "Hope?" She calls louder.
The dog whines a bit, and Josie hears a faint grunt coming from the kitchen area, then she sees Hope come into her view. On her feet, walking while using a crutch.
Josie's eyes widen as she quickly sets down the food and drinks, making her way over to Hope, "Oh my god! You're walking!" She grabs Hope's arm that isn't using the crutch.
Hope chuckles tiredly, "Barely," She groans, Josie helping her over to the dining table, "It still hurts like a bitch," She admits.
Josie jokes, "See? I knew the dog would help. I got you some breakfast and coffee. Want to eat on the porch swing?"
—————
Hope hums in approval as she takes another bite of her breakfast burrito, "Who knew you could be nice like this?" She teases.
Josie rolls her eyes, changing the topic, "I thought you said this porch swing was broken?"
Hope shrugs, "I fixed it while you were out this morning."
Josie looks at her like she's crazy, "Hope, what the hell? You can't be doing repair jobs while you're recovering."
"Calm down, Jo. I'm fine. You need to loosen the reigns a bit and let me handle some of the stuff around the house for you."
"Are you incapable of letting someone else be in control of things for even a minute?" Josie asks with an eyebrow raised before taking another bite.
Hope shrugs, "Being in complete control means being less likely to get hurt by other people. And I'm not the only one here with control issues, alright?" She says pointedly.
Josie scoffs, "What's that supposed to mean?"
" I mean, you're always trying to control every little thing. Your magic, your music, your job, me—"
Josie laughs at her, "Yeah, right. You don't listen to anybody, so what makes you think I'm trying to control you?"
"A. I do listen to people. I'm literally in the military, so it's part of my job. And B. Hmm, let me think of a few examples, the dog, my family, this whole arrangement really."
Josie just shakes her head, trying to ignore some of what Hope said, "Hey, you agreed to it. You could've said no. And don't even try to act like you don't like Peaches. I see the connection between you two." The dog lifts her head up from the wooden boards of the porch at the sound of her name, tilting her head with a whine, "But seriously, all of this fixer-upper stuff needs to stop until you're cleared for those kinds of things."
Hope chuckles, "See? Bossy."
Josie grins, shaking her head and grabbing Hope's trash, "Whatever. Wait here. I'll be back to help you inside and then we're playing cards."
Hope raises an eyebrow, "And what's the magic word, princess?"
Josie rolls her eyes as she begins to walk inside, "Fuck you."
—————————
"Ha! I won!" Josie brags, dropping the rest of the cards in her hand.
"You cheated," Hope claims.
"Okay, sore loser." Josie shrugs, and Hope just flips her off, making Josie laugh heartwarmingly at her.
Hope looks out the window, seeing that it's getting a little darker, "Want to watch a movie or something?"
Josie nods, "Sure, but you should take a shower first, so you don't have to do it later when you're really tired."
Hope sighs, dreading it. She loves the feeling of being fresh and clean, but recently showers have been nothing but painful, since she has to find someway to keep her weight on her legs the entire time.
She's told Josie about this, too.
Josie thinks for a moment, "What about a bath? You were cleared to soak your legs under water now.."
Hope considers it, "It'll probably be a nightmare to get in and out of the tub," She predicts.
Josie eyes Hope briefly, "I can help you."
Hope looks to her, eyebrows furrowed only slightly.
—————
Josie turns the knob, letting warm water flow into the tub, then putting her hand under the water to test the temperature for a moment.
She then focuses on pouring a few bath salts in, mostly to distract herself from Hope removing her shirt, and undoing her belt.
Josie kneels right in front of Hope, who sits on the edge of the tub, "Here," She knows Hope is able to put some weight on her legs now, but she helps anyway, letting Hope lift her body up enough for Josie to pull her pants down her legs, "I thought I told you to wear shorts?"
Hope chuckles softly, "Bossy."
Josie only smiles a bit, locking eyes with the Tribrid as she pulls her pants down her legs. Hope lets out a few exhales along the way, trying to help Josie and keep the material from hurting too much against her skin.
Josie pauses once the pants are removed, studying Hope's legs.
Hope sighs at the sight of her own legs, and the sound gets Josie's attention. She lifts herself higher on her knees, reaching behind Hope to unclip her bra, but she doesn't pull the straps down her shoulders yet, "Can I...?"
Hope nods, and the brunette pulls the straps down, tossing the bra to the side before glancing downward, an attempt to stop herself from looking at Hope's upper body. Her breasts, her tattoos, her scars.
Hope's still in her underwear, so Josie reaches for the waistband, looking up to Hope's eyes again for permission.
She nods a single time, and Josie begins to pull them down her thighs, having to make a conscious effort not to stare.
Hope feels especially vulnerable now. Needing this kind of help isn't something she ever expected. Being this bare and raw in front of someone is something she could've never predicted.
When the underwear is off and tossed to the side, Josie lightly touches Hope's lower legs, where they're hurt most, making the auburnette sigh at the contact. Josie drags her eyes up toward Hope's blue eyes, only pausing briefly on her large, yet still on soft, part between her legs before locking together brown and blue, hoping she's not blushing.
She helps Hope into the tub, using a soft cloth to ring out water on Hope's shoulders, neck and upper back.
Hope chuckles nervously, "I can do that myself."
Josie shakes her head, "Just let me help you, Hope."
She runs the wet cloth over the tattoos on Hope's arms.
After a moment, she hesitantly whispers, "I see how hard you've been working to get better, and I know you'll be able to run and fly again, Hope."
She thinks it's what Hope needs to hear. Hope's used running and flying to cope with her emotions in the past, and now that's been taken from her. Josie knows she's been increasingly stressed out because of it.
She continues in her whisper, "I believe in you, Hope," She rests her hand on Hope's shoulder, squeezing lightly, and Hope only reaches up to rest her hand on top of Josie's, a silent 'thank you.'
Hope leans back a bit, leaning her head against Josie's chest as the brunette sits on the edge of the tub, running fingers through her auburn locks soothingly. Hope closes her eyes, content with the feeling.
Josie hesitantly moves her hand along and over Hope's shoulder, toward Hope's collar bone, her upper chest, along her scars.
She watches as Hope grips the edge of the tub roughly with her hand, but the Tribrid doesn't stop her. Josie smiles a bit at the victory, and she begins to hum the tune behind her new song, continuing to bathe her wife until she's clean.
——————
Josie helps Hope get dressed into her underwear and sports bra, then helps her into bed.
Hope moves to her side, trying to get her legs comfortable enough, and Josie turns on the tv for her.
Josie takes a quick shower and gets dressed before joining Hope in bed, laying on her side as well, facing the auburnette, possibly closer than she should.
Josie whispers knowingly, "I know you've been getting up every night after I fall asleep and coming back before I wake up."
Hope sighs, though she doesn't deny it.
Josie furrows her eyebrows, "Why?"
Hope whispers, "I have trouble sleeping sometimes. I don't want to wake you."
Josie shakes her head lightly, "I don't want you getting up by yourself. If you can't sleep, I'll stay up with you."
Hope smiles softly at the offer. She reaches up to brush a strand of hair behind Josie's ear, then she nods a single time, before leaning in and leaving a kiss against Josie's forehead.
Josie hates the way she gets an indescribable feeling in her stomach, even when Hope pulls her lips away and continues running her fingers through her hair.
Josie doesn't say anything. She only scoots a bit closer, her head resting against Hope's sternum, and she lets out a deep sigh.
Something's different.
Hope's different.
Or maybe it's Josie, herself, who's different.
She doesn't know, but she closes her eyes, content in the indescribable feeling and shift for now, and she drifts off into a peaceful sleep, hating the way that it's Hope who makes it possible.
—————————
Lizzie picks up her cellphone, someone she's hoped to never hear from again cutting through the line.
"I see you and your sister have got that nice beach house now. That must mean you can find a way to get me what I'm owed, unless you want dear old dad to hear about your extracurriculars...You have no idea how much evidence I have on this fake marriage. I could have those two locked up so quick..Tell your twin and your sister-in-law I said hello..."
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I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Won't be long before answers are revealed, now : )