There were clothes everywhere. Josie was rushing around the room, back and forth, picking up one top to compare it to a skirt or jeans and then throwing both items somewhere back into the whirlwind that was her room. Everything had to be perfect. SHE had to be perfect.
Lizzie was standing in the doorway with a look of utter disbelief. She had just gotten back from some zen time with her dad. All of which was gone the moment she opened the door to the room she shared with Josie.
“Jo? What?...What?” sputtered Lizzie.
Josie halted all actions she was attempting to turn towards the door. “Lizzie!” she shrieked. “I need your help! I- I have to look perfect! I don’t know what to wear!”
The blonde twin was blown away. Josie never freaked about her outfits, she didn’t care about that kind of stuff. Josie never freaked out at all. This was usually her thing. Josie’s thing was naturally looking cute as a button no matter what she did. Josie was composed. The scene Lizzie was looking at was so not her sister she a little unnerved.
She crossed the room with fast steps and pulled Josie to her bed. Upon settling down on the bed Lizzie noticed the small tear streaks covering her sister’s face. “Josie, what happened? What is this about?”
Josie wiped at her cheeks for a moment. “I can’t screw this up again. I need… I just have to be better.” she whispered.
Lizzie pulled Josie into a hug. “So this is about dinner?” She asked. Josie just nodded into her shoulder.
“Oh Jo,” Lizzie said with a smile. “Does Hope know how you feel?”
“She knows I'm nervous but…” replied Josie. “She doesn’t know how much..”
“Why?” asked the blonde. Lizzie was never a fan of the tribrid, but she knew that Hope would be beside herself if Josie was anything but happy. Lizzie loved and cared for her sister and she would do anything for Josie, but Hope was on a whole different level. The girl wouldn’t eat or sleep until she somehow got Josie to smile again. “You know she’d be just as upset if she found out you were feeling like this and didn’t see it herself. You should just tell her.” she reasoned.
“It’s fine Lizzie, really. I- I just want to look good, ok?” Josie confessed. “That’s all, I wanna make a better impression this time.”
Lizzie gave a short hum of disproval but got up off the bed anyway. She searched around the room for a minute or two before returning to her sister with some pieces of clothing. “Here, these will be just fine,” she said.
“Are you sure?” questioned Josie. Lizzie had collected a beige skirt from the floor, as well as a long-sleeved black shirt and black tights.
“Would you wear this around here?” asked Lizzie. “Exactly, its perfect” she added when Josie gave a small nod.
Josie still looked skeptical, which prompted Lizzie to continue. Her sister just wasn’t getting it. “Josie, Hope doesn’t want a pretty pink princess, she wants you. The quiet, outwardly shy, awkward girl but an explosion of emotions on the inside. The girl who’s fiercely protective and doesn’t take any of her shit. Or shit from anyone for that matter. That’s why she likes you. Or partly at least. You also got whatever looks didn't go to me.”
Josie regarded her carefully. “Thanks,” she said lips curving up.
“Yeah no prob,” shot Lizzie sarcastically. “Totally knew what I was doing there”
Josie answered with a bone-crushing hug. “Doesn’t matter. It worked.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hope had just knocked on the door to the twins room and was anxiously waiting. As soon as the door opened to reveal her girlfriend, she found herself smiling.
“Hey” Hope whispered.
“Hey yourself sparkly eyes” quipped Josie pulling Hope into the room while giggling.
Sparing a quick glance towards her reflection in the window the tribrid saw that her eyes were in fact very gold and glowing.
“Sorry,” shied Hope. She couldn’t help it. Josie hadn’t even done anything special to herself. She just had on a simple skirt and black shirt. Nonetheless, she just looked so… so Josie, and Hope couldn’t be happier. Hope herself had gone for a very...cliche Hope look. A regular pair of jeans tucked over her favorite pair of black boots and a dark blue short-sleeved tank top under her favorite leather jacket.
“It's fine. I like your wolf side. It’s cute and cuddly.” said Josie.
Hope scoffed. “It’s ferocious and dangerous,” she said crossing her arms with a pout.
Josie pulled Hope into a kiss by the collar of her leather jacket. “sure, babe. Whatever you say,” she whispered into her ear.
The pout didn’t leave the shorter girl’s face, but there was a noticeable red covering her cheeks.
A slight cough from the other side of the room reminded them that Lizzie still existed. “Look I'm all for you two, but keep the lovey-dovey stuff to a minimum please,” she said. “Especially when I’m here.”
The tribrid stepped behind Josie and stood on her toes to rest her chin on the brunette’s shoulder. She wrapped her arms around Josie pinning her arms to her sides and slipped her hands under the front of the siphon’s shirt to rake her fingernails across her stomach, causing Josie to shiver. “We cooould be doing other things…” she taunted.
“NO!” Shouted Lizzie. “NEW RULE! WHEN IN MY PRESENCE YOU WILL LEAVE ROOM FOR JESUS! A FOOT OF SPACE BETWEEN THE TWO OF YOU AT ALL TIMES! AT LEAST!”
“Nah,” shot Hope pulling Josie towards the door. “But, it was a nice try!”
The last thing the couple was on their way out was the appalled look adorning Lizzie’s face.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hope and Josie had made it to the lobby of the school hand in hand. Both girls could feel the nervousness of the other, but neither willing to let it show on the surface. Something about being with each other gave them the strength to press on. Their problems were silly to those who didn’t know them. Hope just wanted to make her family proud, to show them she was doing better. Josie just wanted the Mikaelsons to like her, she needed them to know that Hope is safe. Hope is being taken care of. That SHE was taking care of Hope. That Hope was loved, no matter what she is, no matter who her family is, Hope IS loved.
Loved .
Love.
‘Did she love Hope?’ Josie thought. Their relationship felt different than hers and Penelope’s. When she was with Penelope, Josie felt pulled in every direction constantly fighting for some type of balance. With Hope, Josie felt quite the opposite. She felt centered, grounded. Fighting was replaced with understanding.
“Hey”
Josie nearly jumped out of her skin.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” said Hope. “Our ride is here, what were you thinking about?” she asked with concern.
“Nothing Important” replied Josie starting off towards the door. “Just nerves.”
The brunette saw some sort of disbelief sent her way by the shorter girl but tugged her along anyway. They were about to step out when a familiar voice stopped them.
“Hey, you two,” said Alaric. “Don’t stay out too late ok?”
Josie turned towards her dad. “Yeah dad we know we'll be back before-” she started before her dad cut her off.
“No, no,” he said walking over so he could stand in front of the two. “Don't worry about curfew. Go out and spend time with your family, Hope,” he said placing a hand on her shoulder. “And Josie… give them a chance. Something I never did. I think they’ve earned it by now. All I'm saying is just don’t stay out too late.” he finished.
“Thanks, Dad”
“Thanks, Alaric”
They both answered at the same time. With a nod from him and two matching smiles from the girls, they went their separate ways.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The ride in the limo was a bit awkward. It was only Rebekah and Marcel inside. They explained that everyone else was already at the restaurant making sure the reservation was all set. Also, they didn’t want to overwhelm Josie with the full force of their family just yet. Again. Sitting this close to Marcell already had her heart racing. Knowing that he heard it, Rebekah heard it, and Hope could hear it just made it beat faster.
Josie was pretty sure she was cracking the bones in Hope’s hand she was holding it so tight. Hope didn’t even seem to notice. She and Marcell were to busy staring at each other. Hope with intensity and Marcell with a bit of shyness and regret.
“Relax, Hope,” he said. “I’m not going to try and jump your girl again.”
Hope leaned forward with gold eyes. “There shouldn’t be an again . There shouldn’t have been a first” she hissed. Anger threatening to boil over ready to cuss him out when a hand on her thigh and chin still her.
Josie pulls Hope’s head so they're looking into each other's eyes. Leaning in she whispers in her ear, “ No wolfing out in here, ok?” Keeping one hand on her chin and bringing the other to run through auburn tresses, “ It’s in the past Hope, we have to move forward. That’s what your dad would want, right? It’s what you want? ” Only continuing when she feels Hope nods a few times. “ Then you have to calm down. Being nervous is fine but you can’t be this angry. You can’t take back what you say or do when you’re angry. You could say something in the heat of it and make things worse or end up being angry with yourself. ” The brunette finishes.
Turning back the two teenagers were now aware of the soft smiles playing on both Marcel and Rebekah’s faces.
Josie’s face was on fire. “You- You both- I’m the only one without super hearing in this car…” she realized out loud.
Hope just shrugged.
“I am sorry, you know,” voiced Marcel. “It was a force of habit. And I know that's not an excuse,” he said holding up a hand, “its, ah, something I’m working on. I am sorry though. Truly.”
“I’ll accept your apology if you accept mine?” reasoned Josie with a smile.
“You don’t have anything to apologize for,” stated Rebekah. To which Marcel nodded in agreement.
Josie looked taken aback. “But-”
Rebekah just shook her head. “You said nothing but the truth the last time we were here. And the magic was just a selling point. It’s alright. But dear? Try taking some deep breaths. We wouldn’t want you rupturing a blood vessel now would be?”
All Josie could do was blush. Again.
The rest of the ride to the restaurant was mostly comfortable silence. Quiet small talk here and there. Hope and Josie were too preoccupied with each other to really pay attention to the outside world.
Rekebah couldn’t help but notice the small something in both of their eyes. They were so deeply infatuated with each other and they didn’t even realize. As long as Josie was smiling Hope didn’t even know what year it was. And as long as Hope looked at Josie with nothing but trust, and love, and happiness Josie just smiled brighter. They were stuck in a cycle oblivious only to themselves. Anyone else could see it with just a glance.
Rebekah had one mission tonight.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The restaurant was incredible, but Josie couldn’t help but feel out of place. She had never and probably would never eat at a place like this again. It was one of those cliche things from movies with five-star restaurants. It was clear the Mikaelsons were trying to impress her though, if she was being honest, Josie would’ve settled for pizza, soda, and a game of twenty questions.
Walking further Josie found herself even more surprised. The entire place was empty save for one grouping of tables in the center, and the rest had been moved off to the side. The wait staff was milling about making sure everything was up to their guest standards. Everyone got up to greet the four arrivals upon the door opening.
Keelin was the first to approach with a quiet but happy smile. “Hey,” she says, “mind if I snag a hug?” she asks with open arms.
Hope is quick to reciprocate and threw her arms around Keelin’s neck. She felt closer to Keelin right now than any of her family members. The odd one out, Keelin fully understood what it was like to be a Mikaelson but not at the same time. To be considered part of the clan but only allowed to see and know so much. And that’s exactly how Hope felt nowadays.
“It’s good to see you too Hope!” Keelin said with a full belly laugh before turning towards Josie. “How ‘bout you, little witch?”
“Um...” says Josie completely confused. “Sure?” Allowing Keelin to sweep her up in a crushing hug, sucking every ounce of air from her body.
“Keelin!” Shouted Hope laughing. “She’s not a werewolf! You can’t squeeze her that hard!”
Keeling released the brunette from the death grip she had encased her in. “Sorry!” she said.
Josie waved them both off while catching her breath. “It’s fine, really,” she said eventually still winded. Stepping up to hug Hope from behind, “This one hugs tighter than that when she falls asleep cuddling.”
Hope reached back to slap a hand over Josie’s mouth. Her own hanging open in surprise. It didn’t matter. Keelin and Freya were doubling over in laughter and the other Mikaelsons barely holding it in. Even some of the staff were trying to hide their smiles.
“Wouldn’t have pegged you for the little spoon, Hope,” called Kol earning a smack on the head from Davina.
“Why does everyone assume I’m the little spoon?” Hope snapped through clenched teeth.
Josie kissed her cheek. “Cuz you are,” she shot walking over to greet the others.
Everyone burst into laughter.
Hope sulked the entire time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Josie didn’t know what she was expecting but it wasn’t literally twenty questions. Well, not literally but it was close enough. Everyone had kept true to their word, no yelling or fighting just talking. She could tell it was hard for the supernatural powerhouses to just talk instead of trying to kill each other until their problems went away. The meal was full of questions upon questions, not at all like an interrogation but questions filled with general curiosity and interest. From both sides as well. The Mikaelsons would ask her a handful of questions and she’d answer as best she could. She’d get to ask some too. The questions were small, innocent, no one wanting to push any boundaries. Everyone was laughing and smiling.
“So Josie,” started Kol, “word is that you’re different.” There's no malice or disgust in his tone but the siphon can’t help but start to panic. She’s had this conversation before.
“Uh…y- yeah,” She knows she’s not a normal witch. The twins had gone through the abuse of being siphons at school before. But with her dad being the headmaster no one got the chance to say anything more than once. “I- I’m a siphon,” she whispers waiting for the shoe to drop. Waiting for their smiles to turn to disgust, for them to tell her Hope is too good for her.
Kol continues without missing a beat. “What's it like?” he asks leaning forward placing his elbows on the table and resting his chin on his hands.
“What?” is all she manages to choke out.
“I’m just curious is all, there's not a lot of lore on siphon witches,” he says. “It’s fascinating to be able to learn about them from an actual siphon.”
Josie just stares at him with a blank face. She searches his eyes and face for anything hidden. She spares extremely quick glances around the room at everyone else before her gaze lands on Hope. The tribrid is regarding her carefully, not really understanding what's wrong but aware of the tempo of her heart enough to know that something is off.
Josie stands suddenly, breathing a little hard. “I- uh- I just need a minute. I'm going to go use the bathroom.” she rushes out before speeding off.
“Josie, wait!” Hope calls after her. She stands to follow but is stopped by Rebekah.
The Original gives her a smile, “It’s alright love, I’ll go check on her.”
“But-” Hope tries.
“Not this time,” she says with a wink before vamping after the brunette.
Rebekah finds Josie leaning over one of the bathroom sinks trying to calm her breathing. She observes as the girl splashes cold water on her face with shaky hands before making her presence known.
She doesn’t get the chance when Josie looks up and catches her in the mirror, scaring her half to death. Josie shrieks and jumps, her feet slipping on the slick floor causing her to tumble. The hard impact with the floor never comes as the blonde vampire’s reflexes allow her to reach Josie and stabilize her with one hand on her elbow and the other on her back. “Sorry,” says Rebekah quietly. “Didn’t mean to scare you like that,” she admits.
Josie’s soul returns to her body in record time. “It’s alright. But you didn't have to come check on me.” she squeaks out.
“I’d be lying if I said that was the only reason I came after you,” Rebekah said.
Josie turned to bring her full attention to the ancient vampire. “Why...what's- what’s the other reason?” she asked.
She hesitated, staring at the young witch in front of her with piercing eyes. Almost like she was staring right through her or right into her soul. “You scare me,” Rebekah revealed, “You scare all of us.”
“I scare you?” Josie questioned. “I- I don’t understand.” Why would the Mikaelson’s fear her? She was a strong witch sure but compared to Freya she had a long way to go. And what could she do against a bunch of immortal vampires? She was just a teenage girl dealing with her own teenage problems like good grades, her ex, her own family, and now her girlfriend’s family.
Girlfriend.
“Does me being with Hope scare you?” the siphon wondered out loud. Then panic made another appearance. “I- I thought we were getting somewhere. I- I thought I was making a good impression this time. I- I- I thought I was proving myself.” she rambled, water starting to pool in her eyes. “Wh- What can I do? Can I do anything? Is- Is it too late to fix this?”
Rebekah was quick to sweep the girl into a tight embrace. Rubbing her back she whispered to the girl, “Nothing, there's nothing you need to do. Now dry those tears and let me finish, ok?” she said wiping her thumbs over the younger girl’s cheeks, and when Josie gave a small nod she pressed on. “Oh, my dear, you are everything we’ve wanted for her. And That’s why you scare me.”
“Why is that bad?” whispers Josie.
“Because you have the power to destroy her,” Rebekah says with an edge of seriousness. “You didn’t think it weird that you’re the only one who can get through to her when her wolf makes an appearance? When her eyes burn only you can put them out? None of us can do that, not like you can anyway.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means she belongs to you,” said Rebekah. “And you to her. Wolves don’t bond like she has very often. At all really. And I need….we need you to understand the...the...significance of this.”
“So you’re saying she loves me? Or something?” Josie tried to summarize. “ What are you trying to say? Is there like a point to this?”
“I’m saying that she can’t live without you.” Rebekah clarified. “We Mikaelsons have a tendency to go to the extremes for each other. But you, little witch, are mortal. She’s had enough people die FOR her, but she can’t lose you too. She’s lost so much that losing you would kill her.”
The vampire paused letting what she had revealed sink in before she delivered the punch line of the conversation. She watched mixed emotions pass over Josie’s face, watched as her chocolate eyes wandered aimlessly before they settled on her own pale blue ones.
“What are you asking?”
“The world we live in is horrific, Josie. She was born with enemies. And you’ve already faced your own at the school. There will inevitably come a time when worse will come to worse. There will come a time when things will be bad, really bad.” Rebekah took a deep breath. “Don’t ever die for her. Don’t sacrifice yourself for her.”
“Um…” Josie slipped out.
Rebekah held up a hand. “Let me finish darling. You’ve read the idiotic history book at your school, correct?” Josie gave a few nods. “She might not have told you yet but she loves you, truly, and Nik didn’t have the best luck with his love life. That girl is so much like her father. She has the best and worst of him in her. If something happens to you, Nik would pale in comparison on her warpath to revenge. She would burn cities to the ground for you. Hope doesn’t need any more people to die for her, she needs someone to LIVE for her. She needs people to stay a constant in her life. Can you do that for us?”
“She’s mine,” Josie spoke. It was a statement, not a question. Almost like a realization. “Yeah…Yeah, I can do that. I- she loves me?”
“She does,” Rebekah confirmed. “Hope is just too scared to tell you. She needs you to say it first. I’m not pressuring you, you don’t have to say it until you’re ready to. She will show you how much she cares until then. She might not say it at all, but she does she really does.”
“Ok” Josie breathed out. “Ok” she breathed again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Upon Rebekah and Josie returning to the dining area, Hope was quick to sweep the brunette into a hug and quickly inspect her.
“Are you ok? She asked rubbing her hands up and down Josie’s arms.
“Yeah, your Aunt just gave me a little... pep talk is all,” Josie replied.
“Yes, yes, The birds and the bees, all that nonsense now let's get to dessert,” Rebekah commented causing the youngest couples faces to heat up.
When everyone was seated, the dessert had been served, and the staff had vacated the room to leave the guests to themselves Josie addressed the group, “I- I want to apologize to you all. I was pretty nervous about this dinner after the last time. And… usually, people look at me with disgust when they learn about my sister and I being a siphon so when you didn’t… it was kind of overwhelming. I just needed a second.”
“Oh love, you’ll find no resentment here. After all, you are sitting in a room with us,” Kol gestured around the room. “Though we would all love to hear about our niece’s favorite person, if you choose not to, we won’t hold it against you.”
The energy in the room was light and positive, flowing freely. It made Josie want to talk. It made her feel welcome. The last straw was Hope’s hands, one taking her own and the other resting on her knee. “Yeah… I’d love to tell you about it,” Josie sighed with happiness. She brought the hand that was occupied by Hope’s up to the table and used her other hand to play with the tribrid’s fingers absentmindedly. “It can be hard. I don’t have my own magic, which sucks. I have to rely on other magical things or….or creatures. It scares me to siphon from people,” she said looking into Hope’s eyes, “It can hurt. Really bad. And there's no way to tell how much people can take. It’s different for everyone. She can take more than he can, he can take more than the other guy can, sometimes people can’t take it at all. Its… It's terrifying.” she finished with a deep breath.
Hope brought Josie’s hands to her lips and kissed each knuckle while everyone else processed the information.
The rest of the dinner couldn’t have gone better. Tales of Always and Forever, New Orleans and threats to the school were shared over the two oldest bottles of wine, compliments of Marcel and Rebekah from Europe. Smiles and warm eyes all around. And when the time came for everyone to go their separate ways, it was the happiest goodbye Hope could remember.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The moon was high in the sky when Freya and Keelin returned the girls back to the school. The other members of the clan had said their goodbyes at the restaurant with promises to actually keep in touch. Promises of doing better which for the first time in her life, Hope believed them.
“We love you, Hope,” says Freya, “I’m so sorry. I spent so much time in New Orleans cleaning up your father’s messes that I jumped the supernatural gun with you. I- I can’t tell you how sorry I am. I should have trusted you more,” she added pulling Hope into a hug, “I will from now on… but I still worry… So please… I promise I won’t jump the gun anymore but promise me you’ll call if you need help.”
“I know,” she said. “You don’t have to worry, Auntie Frey. I’ll be calling to do more than just check in. I can’t stay mad at my favorite forbidden spell teaching aunt for long can I?” Hope spared a look at her girlfriend, who was standing next to Keelin sporting a smile, “besides, We said we’d fix things right? We can do that… just one step at a time.”
Freya pulled Hope into a teary-eyed hug. “Yeah… We have a whole lot to make up for don’t we? I’m just happy you don’t hate me.”
“I am my dad’s daughter… anger and hate only last for so long before… before I hate myself for being angry in the first place. But I have someone here to keep my out of the clouds.” Hope said.
Keelin slapped an arm over Josie’s shoulders and leaned heavily into her “I’m sure you can find somewhere else to put your head,” she commented.
Hope and Josie’s eyes met each others faces on fire both girls pulling their lips into their mouth and biting them.
The older couple left them standing on the stairs to the school while they made their way back to the limousine drowning themselves in laughter. Just as they were stepping back into the limo Freya grabbed her wife by the waist and spun them both around before yelling out to the girls, “I hope you have a lot of concealer, Josie! Wolves like to mark their territory! If you know what I mean,” she added with a wink. Keelin picked up and threw Freya head first into the cabin and climbed in after her with a speed Josie nor Hope knew werewolves had. With a last flurry of waves from the window Freya and Keelin pulled past the treeline and out of sight.
Josie took Hope’s hand to give her a soft tug, “I guess our always and forever comes with familial teasing now,” she said as she pulled Hope through the doors.
The tribrid stopped dead. She stopped so hard that she yanked Josie’s arm spinning her around. “Ours?” Hope whispered standing in the doorway, bathing in the moonlight of the left open door.
Josie ignored the small pain in her shoulder to look down at the shorter girl. She looked so beautiful standing in the moonlight. Josie could’ve said ‘I love you.’ She could’ve said the three magic words right then and there. But. Their whole world was magic. Both of them could grow flowers, make it snow, bring a little rain or throw a fireball with three words or less. Most skilled witches didn’t even have to say anything. She could do better. She put her hands on Hope’s waist and pulled her close, smiling when the other girls arms went around her neck instinctively. “If you’ll have me?” the siphon said. “I want to be apart of youralways and forever. Whoever that includes, whoever joins along the way, whatever troubles you will face, I want to be there. Through all of it. With. You.” she concluded punctuating the ending of the last few sentences with quick kisses. “I just want you”
Hope looked up into those chocolate eyes she knew she couldn’t live without. “I Lo- I- I’d really… I’d really like that. I- I-”
“Its ok,” interrupted Josie. “You don’t have to say it. I already know. I don’t need to hear it.”
And so they began to sway. Back and forth almost like the wind was coming through the open door just to push them, but holding them up at the same time.
They didn’t know how long they were there. They didn’t notice when the watchful eyes of the moon finally closed and allowed the sun’s to open for it’s turn to watch over them. They did notice when Alaric stumbled out of his office with an imprint of a book cover on his forehead and without enough coffee in his system too tired to scold them but awake enough to give them the day off. It didn’t matter either way. They have each other.
~Always and Forever,
One Step at a Time.~