Tell Em
"We have to tell them, Josie," Hope told her for the hundredth time while accompanying her to one of her classes.
"I know" you could hear the irritation in her voice.
"when?"
"Soon" repeated the brunette like every time Hope asked her.
Hope took Josie's arm to stop her from enter into the room.
"when?"
"Why are you in such a hurry to tell them? The babies are barely over a month and a half”
"Because this is huge and I would feel better if I could talk to your father about it." Her eyes searched Josie's as she asked. "Wouldn't you feel better talking to your family?"
Reluctantly, Josie nodded.
"We’ll also have two babies" Hope smiled widely as she did every time they talked about the pregnancy. "And I don't want them to think that this is something we are ashamed of"
Josie's heart melted a little and she gave in.
"okay. But you realize they are not going to take this well, at least not at first "
Or at all, she added silently.
"I know" she opened the door with a wide smile.
Josie rolled her eyes and stepped inside.
"Okay, we'll tell both by the end of the week, all right?"
"one week," Hope agreed.
"one week what?" Lizzie asked when she approached them.
Josie panicked.
"One week until the full moon, you know how much Hope loves to run on a full moon, her wolf loves it"
Hope watched her as Josie babbled and shrugged. The week wasn’t over yet.
"Josie, if you don't stop doing that, we'll end up in the math room," Lizzie said, unable to bear another minute of Josie bouncing her foot against the floor.
"I'm sorry" she said standing up and walking around the room.
The blonde rolled her eyes.
“pacing isn’t any better, it will only make a ditch. Just tell me what happens "
In the last few days she had tried to tell Lizzie about the pregnancy, but every time she opened her mouth, she froze. Hope was right, she wanted her sister's support. She wanted to be able to tell her everything like she did before, confess her fears and her growing enthusiasm. But the real reason she hadn't told her was that she was afraid of how Lizzie would react. But she couldn't keep the information from her forever.
"Lizzie, there is something I need to tell you"
The blonde leaned closer against the chair, frowning.
"That sounds serious, does it have something to do with you going back to the doctor this week?"
Josie's eyes shot to her sister.
“You left the appointment reminder on your desk. I wasn't sniffing around” she said quickly, then bit her lip. “Okay, maybe I was. But I was worried about you "
Josie realized that she had put them both through a lot of unnecessary worry by prolonging this. She went and sat next to the blonde girl.
"it's okay. And yes, it has to do with doctor’s appointments "
"are you sick?" she could see the fear in Lizzie's eyes, fear that someone she cared about would leave her forever, it was a fear they had shared since they were children, they couldn't be apart.
"No, Lizzie. I'm not sick” She reassure her, then take a deep breath. "I'm pregnant"
Lizzie's hands come up to cover her mouth.
"Oh my god, how long have you know?"
"For a few weeks"
"who is the father?"
"As crazy as it may sound, it's Hope, it turns out you didn't find us before something happened."
Lizzie stood up abruptly. And she walks towards the exit.
"Lizzie!" Josie called after her sister, who kept walking as if not listening. Upon reaching Hope's room, the blonde used her magic to open the door.
The auburn girl was standing in front of her easel amused in a painting detailing the nightlife in the French Quarter.
"Lizzie? What are you doing here?" Hope asked before bending over in pain.
"You fucking horny dog, you took advantage of my sister" she said as she used her magic to torture the wolf.
"Liz ... I can… explain," Hope tried to say.
"Explain what? How did you use my sister and now she is pregnant? " she said with anger.
"Lizzie, that's enough" Josie said behind her sister, ran to Hope and helped her up.
"How can you defend her?" asked Lizzie
"Nobody knew this could happen, it isn’t her fault and neither it’s mine"
"Look, Lizzie I can't change what happened, but I assure you that Josie and our babies are the most important thing to me," Hope assured the blonde girl.
"Even that emo boy?"
"Landon made his choice, I chose Josie and the babies."
"babies?"
"Twins" Josie smiled at her sister.
"WOW" the blonde girl was surprised "you shouldn't even be able to have one and you’ll have two?"
"I know" Hope's mind flew back to the last few weeks "and with the problems she had with the pregnancy"
"problems?" Lizzie interrupted, her sister's tired and pale face looming in her mind. For a moment she put her feelings aside, realizing the mess they could get their hands on "what kind of problems?"
Hope looked at Josie in surprise.
"Didn't you tell her?"
"I didn't give her many chances," Lizzie admitted a little embarrassed. "what happened?"
Hope… I need you to come to the hospital. Something is wrong.
Hope closed her eyes, wondering if she had ever been as scared as when she heard Josie say those words.
“She called me from the hospital and told me that something was wrong. When I got there, your aunt told us that Josie's body was suffering from the pregnancy and that there was very little chance that Josie and the babies would make it through "
"No, there has to be a way, something we can do" Lizzie looked at her sister in terror.
"Lizzie, Lizzie. I'm fine, we're going to be fine "Josie assured her as she hugged her" Hope's aunt, Freya, helped us "
"did she?" She looked at her sister, who smiled at her cheerfully.
"I'll be fine; we'll be fine" Josie assured her as she touched her belly.
“She just has to eat more meat and siphon more magic. And they'll be fine” Hope smiled looking at Josie.
"I'm glad you're okay" Lizzie said hugging her sister. "Although I'm not happy you kept all this from me"
"We won’t hide anything from you from now on" Hope assured.
"Thank you, Fido" Lizzie joked "good luck telling dad, hopefully he won’t castrate you" she smiled.
And with that Lizzie left the couple.
Hope looked at Josie in terror.
"He wouldn't do that would he?"
Josie just smiled tightly at her.
Josie walked into the office, where her father was sitting at the desk with papers around him.
"Another monster?"
Alaric nodded wearily.
"Sometimes I wonder if this will ever end"
"I'm sure it will, dad"
"Thank you darling" Alaric noticed her nervous expression "Is everything okay?"
Josie shifted from one foot to the other. Her stomach was churning. Now she understood why she was so reluctant to tell her family, she was afraid.
"Dad, there is something I need to tell you"
Alaric put down the papers he was holding
"Does this have something to do with Hope?"
"How did you know?"
"You have spent a lot of time together, she seems happy lately and you too" he smiled "Is there anything else you want to tell me?"
Trying to fight the feeling that she is 6 years old and must explain why she set the bed on fire, she sighs.
"I'm pregnant"
Her father's eyebrows arched.
"And the baby, it’s Hope’s," she finished quietly.
Alaric opened his mouth wanting to say something.
"It happened on the day of the talent show" she was quick to explain.
"How is it possible?" Alaric asked. His head racing with the implications that meant. His daughter was going to have a baby. His grandchild.
"Magic I guess" Josie said.
“Josie, having a child is a great responsibility, Hope and you are still very young. Have you thought about how you are going to take care of a baby? Or where?" said the director "have you thought about the options?"
“Dad, I know this isn’t going to be easy” She doubt for a moment “but you and mum taught me to take responsibility for my actions and to always protect my family. Hope and these babies are my family now "
"babies?"
"Twins" Josie smiled
"I don't know what to say, I didn't expect you to go through all this being so young, but I guess there's nothing to do anymore" Alaric said more to himself than to Josie "Call Hope and tell her to come, I want to talk to her "
“ok” she took out her phone and dialled Hope.
"Hi Jo"
"My dad wants to see you in his office now" she said bluntly "can you come over?"
"Yes, I'll be there in a few minutes" she hears Hope hesitate before asking shyly "Have you already told your father?"
"Yes, I do"
"How upset is he?"
"He's not upset, Hope" reassured Josie
"Yeah sure," Hope scoffed.
"Come and see for yourself" she promised.
"Okay" she accepts reluctantly.
5 minutes later Hope was standing outside Dr. Saltzman's office, she knew the director would not be happy that his daughter was expecting the Mikaelson’s next generation, but she couldn't back down now, so she opened the door.
Hope fixed her gaze on Josie first, finding strength in her eyes. Breathing out slowly, she turned to look at the person who was like a second father to her and smiled nervously.
"Exactly how disappointed are you?" Hope asked in a low voice, knowing the man couldn't be happy with how things turned out.
"I'm not disappointed, Hope"
"I know this is not what you wanted for Josie, for me or this situation"
“It was probably not how I expected things to happen, but what every parent wants for their children is that they have a family and a good person to share that with. So Josie got what i wanted her to have”
Hope held back the tears and walked over to Alaric, giving him a fierce hug.
"You'll be fine, Hope"
Josie smiled. They would be fine.