The English Tutor

Keelin got a final update from Vincent on Josie and Lizzie. Josie had about forty-five minutes left and Lizzie was in for another two hours to get the kidney transplant done. Keelin sighed in relief at the good news, she needed good news considering everything she has just learned. 

Keelin paced in the conference room. Sheriff Forbes was going to be meeting her there. She looked over the reports of the analysis and couldn't help but think she was in a dream. Keelin knew she couldn't pass the parents patiently waiting in the room of the teenagers because they would worry. They would attack her with questions that Keelin wouldn't have answers to. They would just begin to panic before Keelin could give them any news.

"Keelin it's two in the morning this better be something good." Sheriff Forbes scolded the doctor.  Sheriff Forbes took the papers that were handed to her. 

"Read what that paper says." Keelin too busy pacing to control the anxiety building inside of her. Every minute that passed made it clear that the world of the people she loved the most was about to be altered. That the world of a child that she was beginning to see as her own was going to become a bittersweet nightmare. 

"Oh my god! Keelin, are you sure?" Sheriff Forbes could feel her eyes water as she watched Keelin nod. She wanted nothing more than to cry about what the report said, but she knew she couldn't cry. She had to do her job first, more importantly, she had to talk with her daughter and son-in-law. "Okay, you have to tell them." 

Keelin and Sheriff Forbes left the conference room and made their way to the room where the Mikaelson and Saltzman were waiting. Keelin wanted to trade places with anyone at the moment she did not want to be the one to tell her family the news but she knew Sheriff Forbes was too emotional to say anything. Keelin took back the papers from the Sheriff and finally stopped in front of everyone in Lizzie's room. 

"What wrong?" Alaric shot up from his chair as he saw his mother-in-law walk in with Keelin. "Did something happen to Lizzie?" 

"She fine," Keelin assured. 

"Oh god is it Josie?" Caroline walked over to her husband and took his hand. Hope was also up at the mention of Josie's name. 

"Josie and Lizzie are both okay. Josie should be out of surgery in less than an hour and Lizzie should be out of surgery in two." Keelin decided it would be best to get everyone calm before she gave them some life-altering news. "Can everyone in this room please promise me that we are all going to stay here after what I'm about to say because no good is going to come out otherwise?" 

Keelin waited for a nod from everyone in the room. When her eyes met Hayley's Keelin knew Hayley understood. Keelin watched as Hayley took ahold of Hope's hand, Keelin knew she could begin but for some reason, she was finding it hard to form any words. Keelin took a deep breath and turned her attention towards Caroline and Alaric. 

"Caroline, Ric, when we took blood from Josie to test it. To see if she was a match for Lizzie her blood was ran through CODIS. It's a protocol it done automatically by our database. We received a match." Keelin took a second to make sure that Alaric and Caroline were following what she was saying. Keelin looked down at the papers in her hand again but she knew her friends deserved better than her reading the results of the paper. "That match was for your daughter. It was for Josette. Josie Caroline Forbes is Josette Olivia Saltzman." 

"Are you sure?" Caroline knew she had to ask, not because she didn't believe Keelin but because they had gotten their hopes up before and she wasn't sure she could handle another heartbreak, she also wanted to make sure she was having a dream due to the stress she been under lately. 

"We ran the test three times, see for yourself." Keelin handed the papers to Caroline. Caroline read the papers in her hands, it was undeniable. All three papers stated the same thing Keelin said. Josie Caroline Forbes and Josette Olivia Saltzman were the same person. Caroline turned over to her husband and nodded. 

Caroline wanted to help Alaric but she knew she was not strong enough when Alaric fell back. The news was too much for him, he had fainted. Klaus caught the man before he hit the ground and dragged him to the bed and softly laid him down. 

"Caroline where are you going?" Keelin questioned as she followed the blonde woman out of the room. 

"To my daughter. Keelin, please take me to her." Caroline had no idea where she was walking to but she was desperate to get to the child she had been missing for the nearly past 12 years. 

"Caroline, I know you wanna hold her love. Right now Josie is in there saving her sister's life even if she doesn't know it. Please she'll be out soon and you can hold her then, once she knows who she is."

Keelin managed to get Caroline back into the room where everyone else was. Alaric woke up fifteen minutes later. He and Caroline sat next to each other quietly holding each other. The news that Josette was alive and in the hospital was overwhelming to everyone. 

Alaric had called a family friend to help them with the emotional toll this situation was going to take but Emma was dealing with her own family issues. Klaus decided to call someone he knew who thankfully answered at two-forty-five in the morning and agreed to come. 

"Camille will be here soon." Klaus let the group know. Camille worked in the daycare center but everyone knew she had a psychology degree and was quite good. She had helped Klaus deal with his childhood trauma years ago. She also saw Hope for a while after Josette was taken. "She did tell me however that it would be best not to tell Josie until she was here, so she can make sure Josie doesn't suffer a psychological break." 

"We have to wait to tell her?" Caroline couldn't help how upset she sounded. "That's not fair. We have been waiting for nearly 12 years." 

"I know love," Klaus pulled his daughter in closer when he felt her energy change at Caroline's words. He knew his daughter wanted to say something but it was best that those words remained unsaid. "As much as everyone wants her to know right now we aren't important. It is about Josie and her mental health and what is best for her." 

"He's right Care," Alaric patted his wife's thigh. "It's not about us right now. It about both our little girls. One who is getting her life back and the other that is about to have her entire life changed forever." 

Caroline wiped her tears but agreed. As much as she wanted to tell Josie who she was, she did not want to cause more harm than good.

"For now everyone needs to go home and pull themself together," Keelin told them. Before anyone could protest she spoke over them. "Josie and Lizzie won't be waking up from the anesthesia until about nine in the morning. Even then they are going to be woozy and in and out of consciousness for most of the day. Everyone should go shower, get some rest, and more importantly Hope you know she's going to want to see her kids so bring them. They will help her in this situation they will be her sanity." 

"I'm not leaving," Caroline argued. 

"I didn't think you would," Keelin assured the blonde woman. "You can sleep in my office and shower there and as soon as Josie's out I will go get you." 

Keelin watched everyone leave. Alaric would be going home to take a quick shower and come back with some clothes for Caroline, he was also going to find a photo album so they could show it to Josie. Freya, Hope, Hayley, and Klaus went back to the Mikaelson household. Hope was going to get a quick nap, wake up and get the twins ready to see their mother. Freya would check in on her own kids and get Pedro and Henry to video call Keelin so she could say hi to them as well. Klaus and Hayley were going to make sure their daughter was okay and help out with the twins. Hayley would be making some food to take to the hospital to make sure everyone was fed. Sheriff Fobes was going to go into the police station the begin an investigation about how Josette ended up being Josie.

     When Josie was wheeled into the room Keelin was sitting on a chair. She had sent one of her interns to go get Caroline. Keelin had informed her boss of what was going on and thankfully he let her take off as many days as she seemed fit. 

Keelin got closer to the bed and admired the sleeping teenager. She had never seen Josie in such a peaceful state, even when she checked on her some nights Josie would have a worried look on her face as she slept as if she was dreaming of something horrible. Or subconsciously worrying about everything the world had thrown at her.

"Hey sweetie," Keelin took ahold of Josie's hand. "When you wake up things are going to be chaotic but don't you worry I will be here for you. I will protect you and put what's best for you first. Freya and I wanted to be your parents but that's not going to happen. We will around forever because we love you.That's a promise." Keelin wanted to keep talking but she heard the rushed footsteps. Keelin wiped her tears and sat up straight. 

Caroline pulled up a chair on the other side of the bed and watched Josie who she now knew was her daughter, with curious eyes. Caroline had imagined over a million times how her Josette would look, and the girl in front of her was even more beautiful than she imagined. Caroline took a hold of the girl's hand. 

"We never gave up on you." Caroline began to rub small circles on the girl's hand. Caroline wiped away the tears with her free hand. She looked up when she felt someone behind her and saw Alaric. 

"Camille is here." He informed her. "She would like to talk with us about Josette and how to go about telling her." 

Caroline, Alaric, and Keelin walked out of the room but stayed close. They did not want to go far. Alaric and Caroline smiled when they saw Lizzie being wheeled into the same room Josie was in. They waited patiently for Vincent, once Vincent got to them he let them know that everything went perfectly now they just had to wait and see if Lizzie reacted well to the transplant and that wouldn't be known until Lizzie woke up. 

"Caroline, Alaric how are you two doing?" Camille asked. 

"As good as one can be," Alaric answered. He was happy his daughter was safe but there were also so many other feelings he didn't understand yet but he knew hopefully with time he would be able to express them correctly. 

"Grateful," Caroline kept her voice calm, she had already cried enough. It was time for her to be happy because Lizzie was going to get better and her Josette was finally found. "Our little girl came back to us." 

"I want you both to know it's normal if you can't voice exactly how you feel right now. It takes time to process information like this." When Caroline and Alaric nodded, Camille continued. "From what Klaus told me, I was hired to make sure Josie is okay. To put her mental health before anything else and anyone else is that correct?" 

"Yes." Came from the three adults. 

"Great. Before I got here I called to get Josie's file, I should have it soon. I think what's best for right now is to wait for her to be fully off the effects of anesthesia. Once that happens it should be someone she trusts to tell her the truth. If none of you is comfortable with that I can tell her. I will be here for the next two to three days to observe her and be of any help to the rest of you." 

The four adults talked for a while longer, until all of them were satisfied with the plan. Camille excused herself and let them know she was going to look into Josie's file to learn as much as possible about the girl to understand her. 

Keelin waited outside of the room and allowed Alaric and Caroline to be alone with their daughters. Keelin leaned on the wall outside of the room, she let out a sigh and let herself gently fall down to sit on the floor. She smiled when she saw a blonde woman heading her way. She knew that blonde woman anywhere, it was her wife. Freya sat next to her and Keelin leaned her head on her wife. 

"What are you doing here?" Keelin asked. "Should you be home with our boys?" 

"I was home with them." Freya wrapped her arm around Keelin. "Pedro and Henry fell asleep together in Pedro's room. I didn't want to move them so I just covered them." Freya showed Keelin the photo she had snapped. "Then I realized my amazing wife is taking care of everyone but no one has checked in on her. So how are you doing my love?" 

"I'm scared for her. She is a strong girl, I've seen my own eyes. The scar-" Keelin warpped wiped her tears and thought her words out. She could not share information about Josie that other didn't know. She couldn't tell her wife about all the scars she saw in Josie's bodies the times she checked her to make sure she was okay. "She is such a good kid and has been through so much Freya but finding out something like this. Finding out you were kidnapped as a kid is traumatizing." 

"It is but she is not alone. She has us. But that's not what's bugging you; what is Keelin?" 

"As a doctor, I know things. Just like I know Camille knows things because she's a psychologist. If Josie doesn't remember being Josette, she must endure such a powerful, painful, and traumatic event that the only way her mind kept itself from shattering was to make her forget."

None of the two dared to speak after that. It had been an eventful couple of hours and they weren't over yet.