Hope opens the car door, getting out on the passenger side before limping to the back door, opening it up for Peaches to jump out.
She sighs nervously as she looks toward the house she hasn't visited in about four-and-a-half years now.
Freya called Josie, asking them to come by for a casual dinner, and of course, much to Hope's dismay, Josie said 'yes.'
"I can't believe you got us into this," Hope mumbles.
Josie shakes her head, grabbing a bottle of wine from the car before shutting the door and walking around to Hope, intertwining their hands, partially to keep up appearances, and partially to help Hope walk.
She's been progressing a lot in the past couple of weeks, still not as fast as she should be, though. And Josie's well aware of that, but she's been trying to maintain Hope's right to privacy.
"They've been extremely helpful, Hope. Taking you to PT when I'm at work, bringing by some groceries...I just thought one dinner might be the right thing to do. Plus, she assured me it's just a small gathering, not your whole family."
Hope sighs, deflating a bit, "I just don't want them to catch on—"
"Commando, stop worrying, okay? I mean, look at us. We're so cute and suburban. It's disgusting. Come on, Peaches," Josie calls their dog.
Hope shakes her head at that with a soft chuckle.
—————————
"Come here, Nik, I want you to hear a new song," Hope calls her little cousin over, setting him gently on her thighs as she pulls out her phone, going directly to the recording of Josie's song she has saved to her playlist.
She begins to play it for the little boy, who smiles widely, excited to see Hope for the first time since he was three. Hope was surprised the kid even remembered her.
Hope discloses as the boy listens to the song, "She's my favorite artist," She glances to Josie and winks at her.
The attention only causes Josie's cheeks to tint pink. She mouths at Hope, knowing the woman is trying to avert the attention away from her own presence and onto Josie, 'I hate you.'
Hope only chuckles and shakes her head, knowing it's a lie.
Hope's aunt Keelin hums, "I like this song."
"Oh, really? Cause I have plenty more—"
"Okay, that's enough of that," Josie takes the phone away from Hope, her cheeks burning at the attention now. And Hope only leaves a kiss against her red cheek.
"Hope, will you play football with me?" Nik asks from Hope's lap.
Freya shakes her head, "Oh, honey, I don't think that's a good idea. She's still healing, remember?"
The boy pouts, "But why Hopey?"
Josie raises an eyebrow at the nickname, smirking at Hope as soon as the Tribrid looks her way with a knowing glare. She's definitely going to be teased about that later.
Hope picks the boy up to set him on his feet, before she rises to her own feet, "I'll play with you for a minute, bud."
Freya looks worriedly at Hope, "Are you sure that's a good—"
"I'll be fine, Freya," Hope says a bit dismissively, but she can't really help it.
After four and a half years, her family wants to care all of a sudden?
Freya sighs as Hope limps off with Nik.
And Josie calls after her wife, "Be careful, babe."
"Yes ma'am," Hope says before mumbling, "Bossy."
Josie smiles softly as Hope begins to throw the ball back and forth with her little cousin, and Keelin takes a seat beside the brunette, "So, are y'all thinking about having any kids?"
Josie's jaw slacks a bit at the unexpected question, turning toward Hope's aunt, "Uh—"
"Keelin, let her focus on being a rock star right now. Kids later," Hope responds for Josie.
Keelin smiles, turning back to Josie and gesturing toward Hope, "Well...I'm just saying, she's really great with kids, despite her claims about hating children."
Josie chuckles and nods at that.
She turns back toward her wife playing with the little boy, and she gets a little bit lost in the view, no thoughts necessarily in mind...
"I love the way you look at her. It's just so...real," Keelin smiles.
That brings Josie out of her trance, looking back to the woman as she forces a smile.
Because this isn't real. And she's not sure why she has to remind herself of that.
———————————————
"Are you sure you're gonna be okay over here?"
Hope opens the back door to let the dog out too. Josie has to work a shift at the bar, so Hope figured she and Raf could catch up for a bit until Josie gets off.
Hope nods, "Yeah, I'll be fine. Right, Peaches?"
The dog barks, wagging her tail in excitement.
Josie chuckles, "Okay. Be careful."
Hope peers at Josie through the opened window, "I'll be fine, Jo. You need a break from constantly taking care of me anyway. I'll see you later."
Hope taps the car before turning around and limping with her crutch toward Raf and Ethan's house, Peaches following right beside her.
Josie sighs. It's the first time she's going back to work since Hope got hurt. She's a little bit nervous, but at least Hope isn't alone.
——————————————
After her shift, Josie still hasn't heard from Hope, so she decides to just go home until Hope says she's ready to be picked up.
But when she pulls up outside the beach house, her eyes widen, seeing the door busted open with force.
And she pulls out her phone, calling the first person she thinks of.
——
Raf's truck pulls up outside the beach house merely two minutes later, and Hope quickly gets out, not waiting for Raf or getting the dog out. She makes her way over to Josie, who still stands by her own car.
"Jo? What happened? Are you alright?"
Josie nods, "Yeah, I'm fine. Someone broke the door and that window, I think—I called the police right after I called you—"
"Okay, you stay right here. I'm gonna go inside and check it out."
Josie shakes her head, "No, there could be somebody in there—"
Hope holds Josie's shoulders, trying to calm her down, "It's gonna be fine, okay? Stay right here," Hope looks back toward the truck as Raf gets out, "Raf, stay with Jo."
She doesn't want to leave Josie by herself, just in case there really is someone still here.
She slowly makes her way up the three steps to the porch.
She steps into the doorway, looking around at all the broken glass on the floor, before making her way around to check the house for intruders.
———————
Lizzie pulls up outside the house less than a minute later, getting out of her car quickly when she sees Josie, Raf and Peaches outside, "What's going on?"
Josie turns toward her sister, worry written across her face, "Someone broke in. The police are on the way, and Hope's checking the house now."
Lizzie's eyes widen as she looks toward the house.
Raf shakes his head, "She shouldn't be in there alone. I'm gonna go inside. Josie, stay out here with Lizzie," He has this suspicion that Hope would kill him if he left her alone.
He makes his way inside, and at about the same time, Lizzie's cellphone rings.
She hesitantly answers and brings it up to her ear, "So, you gonna let your sister-in-law fight all your battles now?" Lizzie's eyes widen as she begins to look around, knowing she's being watched.
Josie looks at her, "Lizzie, what's wrong? Who is it?"
"Pay up, Saltzman." The call disconnects after that.
She swallows thickly, pulling her phone away from her ear and turning toward her twin, "No one."
Josie sighs in relief, distracted by the sirens she hears now, "Finally."
"All clear," Hope limps out the door, Raf following behind her as she makes her way back to Josie, who immediately wraps her arms around the Tribrid's neck.
It catches Hope off guard, but she wraps her arms securely around Josie's waist, assuring her, "You're okay, Jo," She can feel her wife shaking still, being terrified by the sight she came home to, "You're okay."
—————————
After the police and Raf finally leave, Josie, Hope and Lizzie go inside.
Lizzie looks between the two guiltily, "I-um, I'm gonna head down to the beach for a bit."
Josie looks to her sister, "Be careful out there, Lizzie. Whoever broke in could still be close."
Lizzie nods, "I will."
She makes her way out the door, and Hope bends down with a small groan, picking up a piece of glass they'd missed, "I'm gonna stay up tonight, so you don't have to worry about—"
"I won't be able to sleep after all of that anyway, Hope," Josie says groggily, making the Tribrid stand back up and turn to her worriedly.
Josie looks a bit pale, her eyes dazed, "You okay, Jo? You don't look so—"
"No, I'm fine," Her words become slightly slurred, hands clammy.
"When's the last time you ate?"
Josie's eyebrows furrow as she begins to sway, "I don't know, I—" She sways, clearly about to pass out. She has to catch herself by planting her hands on the kitchen counter, and Hope immediately rushes over to her while Peaches lets out a bark in alert.
Hope wraps one of Josie's arms around her shoulders, "Come on, we're going to the couch. Put your weight on me."
Josie slurs, "It's my magic, I need—"
Her injections. "Where?" Hope asks, grunting as she lays Josie down on the couch.
"My purse," Josie pants.
All of her panic and being around Hope catches up with her in an instant.
She's been suppressing her magic for so long, and her body craves it. She's a siphoner witch, so magic for her body is almost as important as blood or food for a normal human being. She needs her medication to stop the craving.
Every time this happens, it feels like extremely low blood pressure. Cold sweat, shaky, aching sensations consume her body, and the only ways to stop it are her injections or by siphoning magic, which was strongly forbidden by her father and his teachings at the Salvatore school.
Lizzie never listened to his teachings, and although Josie states she didn't, the teachings were instilled in her. The many biases she inherited from her father are mostly implicit. She sometimes doesn't even recognize just how prejudiced she can be.
Just like Alaric.
It's why she initially hated Hope.
Openly supernatural. A werewolf. A vampire. Wielding magic with control, not controlling magic with suppression.
A Mikaelson. Josie can't even recall all of the times her father would make a negative remark about the family. Josie has never witnessed any of it first hand, but after hearing so many awful things, she just believed it. And after finding out Hope Mikaelson was also a Marine, Josie simply figured it was so that her murderous endeavors might be 'morally justified.'
But now, as Hope shushes their dog, rushing and raking through Josie's purse for her injection to help her, Josie thinks her wife is just the opposite of everything his teachings claimed.
"Okay! I got it," Hope rushes, as fast as she can with injured legs, over toward the couch, "Here, hold onto me, Jo," Josie does as she's told, weakly gripping Hope's shirt as the Tribrid lifts her upper body from the couch. She sits down and holds Josie in her lap, the brunette's back against her front, resting Josie's head against her own chest, "Okay, squeeze my hand, baby."
Josie complies, breathing heavily as she squeezes, and Hope pushes the short needle through Josie's skin, administering a single dose before removing it and setting it to the side.
Hope still holds onto Josie, running her fingers through her hair as Josie grips her forearm with one hand, the other reaching up and back, tangling in Hope's locks as she hears Peaches whining by the couch, resting her head on Josie's thigh.
Hope's breathing is about as heavy as Josie's, "How long until it works?"
Josie sighs, "About 20 minutes."
She's surprised Hope didn't make a remark about Josie not siphoning magic to fix this. Maybe she's finally begun to respect Josie's choice to not practice magic.
Hope nods, exhaling deeply.
Josie whispers, "Your heart's pounding right now," She slides her hand down from the back of Hope's neck to her chest to feel the beating.
Hope sighs, admitting, "'Cause that scared the hell out of me, Jo."
Josie smiles wearily at that, letting out a pant as she grazes her fingertips along Hope's forearm resting across her stomach. She chuckles weakly, "Told you I could let you take care of me sometimes."
She tilts her head to look at Hope, who meets her gaze and cups her cheek, leaning down and resting their foreheads together as she closes her eyes, finally feeling herself begin to calm down.
Josie glances downward, against her better judgement, being in such close proximity. She feels so safe. So secure.
She turns around in Hope's arms as the girl opens her eyes again, bright blue meeting brown.
And Josie can't help it, when she glances downward again, there's an almost magnetic pull, drawing her into her wife as she lightly presses her lips against Hope's briefly.
She lets out a small sigh as she pulls away, resting her forehead against Hope's again, before she's gently pulled back in by the auburnette.
Hope kisses her tenderly, like she's the most delicate being on earth. Normally, Josie would be repulsed by the sentiment, but right now, she can't help but melt into the feeling.
Hope releases her lips with a slight tug. And when Josie opens her eyes, she sees nothing but vulnerability deep in the pair of ocean blues.
Hope pulls her closer again, this time holding Josie's head against her chest, leaving a kiss to the top of her head as she runs her fingers soothingly through brunette strands still.