The English Tutor

  Prom was four days away the stress in both the Miakelon's household and the Saltzman's household was through the roof. The parents of the girls were running everywhere trying their hardest to get everything they wanted for their girls. The teenagers were running around cramming in final assignments and late-night studies. 

Josie sat in the study room of the Mikalson house, the place where she and Hope met for the first time. Or re-met for the first time. Josie was still having a hard time putting everything together. Or well she understood everything it just never failed to sound surreal to her. She looked around the study room a part of her still thinking that she would wake up and be Josie Caroline Forbes again and she had somehow fallen asleep waiting for Hope that first day she tutored her. 

"Hungry?" Keelin asked. Josie looked at the woman standing by the door holding a plate of fruit in her hands. 

"Sure." Josie smiled as Keelin got closer to her. Josie took the fruit from the woman and excitedly tossed a couple of pieces into her mouth. "How's everything going on out there with the parents?" 

"You'll be happy to know. Klaus and Hayley will be paying for the limo to take yall to prom and your parents will be paying for the graduation pictures yall will take." 

Josie stayed silent and continued eating. Her parents and Hope's were really going all out for the events they had coming up. 

"You alright there?" Keelin waited for an answer. The girl in front of her was so well put together. You could hardly tell she had been through hell by herself. She managed to keep herself together despite all the chaos that kept happening. However, Keelin knew better. She could tell the girl was still battling with herself and some days Josie didn't have the energy to hide her pain completely, but no one noticed, why would they when she has kept herself put together since she was a child.

"Yes." Josie lied, but right away she wanted to fix her lie, "Maybe I'm not." She waited for Keelin to sit next to her. "I know this is all real. I have my parents... and they love me but can I confess something?" 

"Anything you tell me stay between us," Keelin promised her. 

"Before any of this happened. Before me finding out about my parents and the whole being kidnapped thing." Josie chuckled uncomfortably. "I wanted you to adopt me. I know it's stupid I hadn't wanted that since the Harrisons." Josie wiped the tears at the memory. "You were the first adult I trusted since and a part of me wished you'd be my mother. You never looked at me with pity. Like if you were afraid you'd break me. You saw me for me, as a human." 

"Josie we wanted to adopt you," Keelin confessed. "We wanted you. I wanted you because since the day I met you I wanted nothing more than the best for you and let me tell you I think you have what's best for you." 

Josie looked over at the woman who was crying. Josie had tears rolling down her cheeks. 

"Josie you know. I'm not your mom, but I will always be there for you when you need me. You are family. Always and forever." 

"Always and forever," Josie mumbled to herself. The promise she had heard the Mikaelsons say since she was a child. A promise Hope had made to her and kept. "We should go back downstairs before they decided to come looking."

     Caroline stood outside the study room of the Mikaleson household quietly. Accidentally eavesdropping on her daughter's and Keelin's conversation. Carline had no intention of eavesdropping but Elliot kept asking for her mother and Caroline decided to get her daughter. She found herself listening to the woman and teenager talk. Caroline was so grateful for Keelin, the way the woman took care of her daughter before they knew who she was, the way she had always put Josie's best interests before anyone not caring who would get hurt in the process.

Caroline couldn't stop the tears when she heard Josie's confession. Her daughter didn't want her as a mother. Her child preferred someone else over her. Caroline wanted to open the door and question her daughter. She wanted to ask what she could do better and how she could prove that she loves her. She wanted a instruction manual on how to love her, in a way that would make Josie feel valid in every way she needed and wanted.

Caroline rushed downstairs and out of the house when she saw Keelin and Josie get up. She was not ready to face Josie. She couldn't. How could she be upset when they failed to find her for so many years. All these years she was close to them. And she and her husband didn't have a clue. They met Josie during her freshman year. Three years, they had her in front of them for three years and they were clueless. She was simply Lizzie their daughter's best friend who came around on occasion and was always very well-behaved. She never gave her and Alaric a reason to suspect her hidden tragedies. 

Caroline rushed into Josie's old bedroom. She looked at the pictures on the wall. She knew that little girl, the five-year-old in that picture, she knew her. She knew everything about Josette. She knew that when Josette did something wrong she would hug her legs and confess what she did, Josette loved her stuffed bear and would refuse to leave it even for a night, and Josette was the opposite of Lizzie, Josette sought her for comfort while Lizzie sought Alaric. 

The teenager they found, she, she was nothing like their little girl. The teen rarely showed her emotions. She tried her hardest to keep them away. Josie was cold and distant there was no sweetness left in her, she was jaded and Caroline hated herself for thinking that. The only time Caroline saw her smile or have the most sincere happiness was around the twins and even Hope. 

"How do we fix this?" Caroline talked to herself. She wanted to understand her daughter. She wanted to know what ran through her brain. She wanted to learn what made Josie, Josie. 

Caroline wiped her tears. When she heard the footsteps approach her. Caroline looked up to see the very person she was thinking about. 

"Everything okay?" Caroline wiped the tear quicker. Josie was the last person she wanted to see in this state. 

"Hey, sweetie. Yeah, I'm fine?" 

"You heard me didn't you?" Josie leaned on the door frame. "You heard the conversation between me and Keelin?"

"No why would you say that?" 

"Because when I went downstairs Lizzie asked why you rushed out," Josie explained. "Mom it's not what you think." 

"No, it's okay. You wanted Keelin to be your mom, not me." 

Josie sighed. She took a few steps closer to her mother.  "That was something I wanted before I knew that I was your daughter. I just wanted her to know, I was grateful for everything she did. She saved me." 

"Was there ever someone else?" Caroline found herself asking. She knew Josie had been in foster care but she always assumed that everyone was horrible. She never thought to think of the possibility of there being a good home. 

"Yes but that was a long time ago." 

"How long ago?" 

Josie looked down, she couldn't help the small smile that slipped across her face. She didn't want Caroline to see her smile she had hurt the woman enough. Josie shifted her smile into a thin serious line as she looked up to meet her mother's eyes. 

"A long time ago with the Har-" 

"Josie!" The voice boomed into the room cutting Josie from finishing her explanation. "Your student is here." 

"Shit, I forgot." Josie apologized to her mother once again and made her way out to the study room her family had.

Caroline remained on the bed watching her teenager run out of the room. Josie was opening up to her and they got interrupted. Caroline sighed, they had agreed to let her continue tutoring only because Josie refused to stop as much as they wanted her to completely stop working, Josie kept fighting not because she was scared for financial stability but because she had made a promise to the student she began to tutor at the beginning of the year. Caroline learned her daughter was dedicated to those she tutored, she cared for them and would do everything she could to help them pass their class.

Caroline cleaned herself up and made her way to the living room. Caroline was shocked to see a lady sitting there quietly. 

"Hi," Caroline said grabbing the blonde woman's attention. 

"Oh hi," The woman shot up. "I am so sorry my daughter is in there with her tutor. Lizzie, I believe told me I could stay and wait here." 

"Of course. Can I grab you anything..." Caroline waited for the woman to give her a name.

"Nicole, and no I am fine thank you," The woman extended her hand out for Caroline to shake. "Sorry for such a last-minute session. My husband usually helps with english assignments but he is at a dance performance in Japan." 

"No problem at all," Caroline assured. "Josie loves helping with english." 

"Has she always loved english?" 

Caroline found herself unsure of how to answer. Did Josie always love english? Josette, Josette barely even looked at a book without her there. "Yeah I suppose so," Caroline settled on the couch on the opposite side of the woman. 

The woman lost themselves to the conversation. Caroline found herself grateful for the conversation she needed the distraction. She was glad to keep the discussion on the woman. It looked like the woman needed the conversation. Her husband had been gone for three weeks and would be back in five days, she was handling four kids by herself. 

"How old are your kids?" Caroline asked. 

"My oldest he's nineteen, after him my other boy fifteen, my daughter is thirteen, and my youngest, my foster son, he is five." 

"Foster son?" Caroline's interest spiked. "You're a foster parent?"

"Yes, my husband and I have been fostering kids since my oldest was about three." 

"Is it hard being a foster parent?" Caroline immediately realized her question might be perceived as rude. "I'm sorry I don't mean to intrude." 

"No, it's quite alright," Nicole assured her. "It can be. We just started fostering again. Our youngest was actually the first kid we have fostered I'm almost ten years." 

"Wow, that's a long time. Why'd you guys stop?" 

"Our foster daughter," Nicole could feel the puddles begin to form, after all this time every time she thought about the nine-year-old little girl her heart shattered all over again, and her sobs echoed in her mind. "A former foster daughter. We wanted to adopt her but they found a good home for her and despite us wanting to keep her, we knew it was best she went to a place that could give her the best life. After her, we just didn't think we could foster another kid. We had fostered many before her but she was special. She clicked with us and she was our little girl since the day we met her and we loved her. Letting her go was the hardest thing we have ever done." 

"That sounds awful." Caroline didn't know how to respond. She knew how awful it felt to have your child ripped from your arms. She could imagine the strength it takes to willingly give up your child so they could have the best shot at life.

The women's attention shifted to the talking that got closer. In walked Josie and Rachel. Josie was going over what they had fixed on the girl's paper and how she needed to email her the final draft, and lastly the next day they would meet so Josie could help her get the best grade possible. 

"Looks like they've finished." Caroline looked over and smiled. Josie was so good with her student it never ceased to amaze her how well her daughter was with those she taught. 

"She did amazing," Josie said as she moved her attention to her student's mother. Josie stopped in her tracks. It was Mrs. Harrison the woman that had made her believe years ago she was loved but she also broke her heart, there were so many things Josie wanted to ask the woman in front of her but Josie was certain the woman didn't love her as much as Josie had thought. 

"Josie?" 

"Mrs. Harrison," Josie swallowed the lump in her throat. It went straight to her heart she could feel it trying to escape her chest. 

"Josie are you okay?" Caroline could tell there was something between her daughter and the lady she had met two hours ago. 

"Yes," Josie answered. "We got her assignment done. She will be making her final draft and I will see her in two days to make sure the final draft is perfect." 

Nothing else was said. Josie wanted to avoid all the questions that were to come from her mother and from the girl that was with Mrs. Harrison. 

Josie walked Rachel and Mrs. Harrison out. She waited for Mrs. Harrison to get into the car but instead, the woman walked back to the door where Josie stood. 

"I'm so happy you got adopted by a good family." Nicole had a wide smile on her face. The girl in front of her looked happy, she could tell Josie turned out well. 

"I didn't get adopted." Josie's tone was cold. She was placing distance between her and any emotion she was feeling. 

"No, your social worker he promised. He said you were going to a loving couple that couldn't have kids." 

"Dave didn't care about us." Josie barely remembered that man but she did remember that he only did the bare minimum for any of the kids he had under his care. "He was fired for taking bribes for kids two years after I left your house." 

"Don't please," Josie didn't give Mrs. Harrison a chance to speak. "I don't want to hear it. I just need to know. Was it me? Did I do something wrong? Was I calling you mom too much?" 

"Oh my sweet girl," Mrs. Harrison reached for Josie. She placed her hand on the teenager's cheek. "We wanted you. We wanted to adopt you, but Dave... he promised there was a couple who wanted you. A couple who had money to get the help you needed. He swore that they were the perfect match for you. So despite the fact that it broke our hearts, we gave you up. Had I... we known, we would have fought for you. We loved you since the day you came into our home. You were the perfect little girl. You were ours and the love we had for you was real. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. I'm okay." Josie promised, there was no reason in making Mrs. Harrison know the horrors she faced with the family she went to after them. "Caroline she is my mother. Um, my birth mother turned out I was kidnapped." Josie gave Mrs. Harrison a few minutes to process what she had just told her. "I turned out okay. I can never thank you and Mr. Harrison enough for the way you two loved me, you two were the first real parents I ever had in foster care. You two made me believe there was hope and I held onto that in all the homes I went to. Can you tell Mr. Harrison something for me?" 

"Of course sweetie." 

"Tell him I never stopped reading. That him teaching me to read saved my life and that till this day I read a book a week. Tell him I turned out to be a good kid." The breaking of her voice was involuntary.

"Oh, honey he knows. We never doubted that you would do great things in your life."  

Josie hugged the woman in front of her and walked away to her room. 

Nicole stayed outside trying to compose herself. She had come face to face with the girl that she had been thinking about for years. Nicole met Caroline's gaze. There was so much curiosity in those caring eyes. 

"Is there anything I can do for you?" Nicole offered. 

"How'd you reach her?" Caroline didn't need to explain. Nicole was aware Caroline had heard the entire conversation.

"She still that scared nine-year-old," Nicole told Caroline. "I can tell you, she's grown and she carries herself so well from what I can tell but she still has that same look in her eyes. Fear hides in there and you have to look past the plastered smile." 

"How?" 

"She doesn't do well with help. I don't know if it still works but it worked for us. She loves hot chocolate with marshmallows, whip cream, and cinnamon but it has to be the mini marshmallows specifically the pink ones. When she has a hard time falling asleep singing and rubbing soothing circles on her back would have her out in a few minutes." Nicole remember all the detail, she never forgot. She simply stored them away to go back and visit when she needed them. "When she is upset she bites her lip to avoid talking back, and when all else and you can't reach her Hershey chocolate but only the ones with almonds. That usually got her to talk with us in an hour." 

"Thank you." Caroline told the woman. That was more she knew about her daughter than she did yesterday.