Parent's Love
Josie took a deep breath before entering her room, her sister had an altercation with Penelope the day before and she knew she would be in a terrible mood today.
"Hey" Josie greeted the blonde.
"Hey" Lizzie greeted excitedly "Happy birthday to you two, isn't a beautiful day for a party?"
Josie with the whole baby thing, she had forgotten that today was her birthday.
"Right" said Josie "you're ... happy"
"Why not be? Mum comes home, I slept with Raf, my pores are practically invisible "
"wait? Did you sleep with…? " the brunette still couldn't believe her sister's words.
"Last night" she said "do you remember that mom always says that in the end things works out?"
"I hope she really believe that when I tell her about the babies" Josie sighed, today she would tell Caroline that she was pregnant, she was a little terrified.
"Yeah, good luck telling mum you'll be part of Teen moms" Lizzie encouraged "but somehow she's right, you know. Now I have a boyfriend and you have Hope "
"Lizzie, Hope and I aren’t .."
"Woot, woot! Happy birthday, witches! " Penelope interrupted carrying two cupcakes.
"Oh look. Satan in a crop top" said Lizzie" you've come to set my world on fire "
"Retro. Lady Di die before she had style. I like it” Penelope joked.
"what do you want?" Josie asked wearily, she had no mood for anything Penelope wanted.
"I just want to cheer you up, as your mother is not going to come ..."
"What?" both twins asked.
“I heard it cancel at the office. I thought you knew, oops! " she said without remorse.
Lizzie was enraged and slammed the door in her face with magic. Josie for her part sighed relieved, this gives her more time to prepare how to tell her mother about her upcoming maternity.
"I can't believe it" Lizzie said annoyed.
"Lizzie ..." Josie was cut off by a knock on the door "Penelope if it's you ..."
"Hi" Hope said looking at her best friend. "We were supposed to meet for breakfast this morning" she handed a cup to the brunette "herbal tea"
since Freya had told Hope that the drink would help Josie with her morning sickness, the tribrid greeted the brunette every morning with a cup. That gesture was an important part of her days.
"Is there a problem?" Hope asked noticing Lizzie's annoyed face.
"Mom, she won't come for our birthday," Josie said while taking a drink from her tea.
"Oh" was the only thing that came out of Hope's mouth.
"Yes, if you excuse us, Wolfie. Your babies' mama and I have something to talk with daddy” Lizzie said taking her sister's hand and dragging her out of the room.
"Thanks for the tea," Josie said hastily as she was dragged by her sister.
Hope just smiled at her.
The twins arrived at the office, when they tried to open the door they found it closed, but they could hear voices inside. Lizzie played.
"EH ... dad, why is your door closed?" the annoyed blonde asked.
"And when were you going to tell us that mom wasn't coming?" Josie asked.
“I was going to tell you. There is a strike at the Mozambique airport” said Alaric's voice.
"And couldn't she compel a pilot and get on a private jet?" Lizzie asked, incredulous at the terrible excuse her father was making.
"I'll explain it to you later, right now I need you to leave because I'm… wrapping your presents" another poor excuse.
"no it isn’t true. You're lying to us” Josie said, she couldn't believe her father's nerve.
The twins shared a look before siphon magic from the wall and using a spell to open the office door.
"Shit," Alaric said.
"Who is she?" Lizzie asked, noticing the woman who was with her father.
"My God" was what Josie said when she saw the woman who is supposed to be her birth mother, her dead birth mother.
"You have to go right now," Alaric said.
"I'm sorry, how old are you?" asked the woman.
"16" answered at the same time.
"Today ... is our birthday" Lizzie announced.
"You are twins"
"What are we interrupting?" Lizzie asked her father.
"Seriously, do what I tell you and go," Alaric asked again.
“Lizzie” Josie called her sister, she still couldn't believe her mother was in front of her.
"what?"
"Lizzie, it's her"
"who?"
The brunette walked to a bookcase and took a photo.
"her" showed him the photo of her father at the wedding with her mother.
"Hell, you're bio mom" Lizzie said surprised.
"This is impossible," Jo said just as surprised. "I wasn't even showing at the wedding, how?"
"Your family's crazy coven magically implanted them in Caroline when you died, she gave birth them," Alaric explained.
"Caroline? So the two of you…? "
“No, she married Stefan Salvatore, who basically died on her wedding day too. It's a long story” said the director.
"But they are very close," added Lizzie.
"We opened the school together" Alaric said.
“She is abroad now, dealing with very important recruiting matters. My name is Lizzie in honour of my mom's mother” said the blonde.
“I am Josie. Josette, like ... "
"me" said Jo.
Josie smiled at her birth mother.
After the introductions, Alaric decided to do a little interrogation to Jo, he wanted to be sure that she would not be a harm to the school and his daughters, especially Josie now that she was expecting. He had to be extra cautious.
"Well, once again, what's your name?" asked the director.
"Josette Laughlin" the crystal ball showed blue, she was telling the truth.
"What is your job?"
"I'm a doctor, I was" blue again.
"Repeat after me: I come to hurt you"
"I come to hurt you"
Red, lie.
Seeing that everything was going well, Josie rushed to ask Jo a question.
"How did you meet dad?"
"That question is not relevant," said the director.
Jo ignored him and answered.
“I met him at a college party. He was the only one over 20 years old "said Jo with a smile at the memory.
"It was love at first sight?" Josie asked.
She wanted to hear her parents' story, she wanted to know Jo's version.
"Jo! That's none of your business” her sister scolded her.
"Not quite, I flirted with him and asked him to give me a shot of his drink and he told me he was germaphobic, but he reminded me of Indiana Jones, so ..."
"This walk in the garden of old people's memories is a lot of fun and all, but we have to get ready for a party" Lizzie interrupted looking at her sister.
"Will you still be here later?" Josie asked Jo.
"I'll go as soon as I can" said Alaric to his daughter "for now forbidden to enter the office"
Jo smiled at her daughter, causing Josie to smile her back.
Josie was helping Lizzie get ready.
"Dad is very suspicious"
"Ah Duh .. me too" Lizzie said as if it were obvious, with the whole monster thing they should be careful.
"I think she's more of a fairy godmother than a zombie," Josie said.
"She is not our mother" Lizzie said "she is DNA, no matter how angry we are with mom for not coming to the party, we cannot cheat on her with mombie dearest"
Josie knew her sister was right, but she still wanted to meet the woman in her father's office.
"Fix yourself, I don't want to be late," Lizzie said.
"go ahead, I'll see you there," Josie said.
Lizzie nodded and left the room.
A minute later she hear a knock on the door frame. It was Penelope.
"Hey Jo-Jo" greeted the witch "do you need an escort?"
"Sure, do you know someone who doesn't have a heart of stone?" Josie asked annoyed.
"Hey, I'm sorry about before," Penelope apologized. "I saw the opportunity to make Lizzie suffer and I took my shot "
"Why don't you leave her alone?" Josie didn't understand her ex's rivalry with her sister.
"She absorbs the air in all the rooms you are in"
"She is my twin; we can share oxygen"
“Now you also share love interests? Why is she the only one who has a partner "said the Witch. "you see? You have fallen so deep into the den of codependency that you think taking care of yourself is selfish. But is not. So when are you going to start taking care of yourself? " Penelope scolded her.
"I take care of myself, thank you very much" Josie defended herself.
"Do you believe it? Because…"
"Enough, Penelope," Hope's voice said, her eyes golden. That wouldn't allow the witch to upset Josie.
"Hope" greeted the witch. "I didn't know you were Jo-Jo’s guard dog now, good luck when she left you for Lizzie"
"Penelope, go before I show you how bad I can be," Hope threatened.
The witch raised her arms in surrender and left the girls alone.
"Are you okay, Jo?" Hope asked with concern
"I'm fine, we're fine" Josie assured "what are you doing here? I thought you'd be at the party "
"I'm not in the mood for parties" the tribrid said "but I wanted to give you something before you went to celebrate" Hope give her a red envelope. "Happy birthday, Jo"
The brunette opened the envelope and took out a little black bag, along with a note.
I hope your birthday wishes come true. Hope
Josie smiled, then pulled the talisman out of the bag.
"Hope, it's beautiful, you shouldn't have" she smiled at the tribrid.
"yes, I should, you’re the mother of my future children and my friend, I think it is the least I could do" said Hope
"Thanks" Josie said sincerely "could you?"
"Sure," Hope said as she placed the talisman around josie’s neck. Then she bravely gave her a kiss on the cheek "have a magical night"
The tribrid smiled at her and left her to change.
Josie had an idea. Not caring about Alaric's warning, she went to see Jo. She used her siphon power to open the door.
"Do you know how to do braids?" she asks Jo.
The doctor smiled and helped her daughter fix her hair.
"Won't you be late?" she asks to the teenager.
"No, no one will notice" said Josie
"At your own party?"
"Maybe if I had a date"
"Is there someone special?" Jo asked.
"That's a complicated question"
Jo sat across from Josie, waiting for an explanation.
"Tell me" asked Jo
"Well ... last year there was this girl, but she left me" she smiled, her mind drifting to where she was could be her life if Jo wouldn't have died years ago.
"Oh"
"And now there's this other girl, we're friends, but one night ..." she didn't know whether to tell her about her pregnancy "you know, and now I'm magically pregnant"
"Wow" that surprised Jo "does she know?"
"She does, it wasn't planned, but she's happy, we're happy, any advice?"
Jo looked at her, her heart breaking for not having been there all these years for her daughters.
"The only advice I can give you is that you love your child with everything you have, do your best to never be separated from it and do everything possible to protect it"
"I will do it"
"And don't worry, I know you'll be a great mother" she smiled at her daughter. "Now go to your party, it's getting late"
"Actually, do you want to come with me?"
Hope was in her room, after thinking about it a bit she had arranged to go to Josie's party, she knew that the brunette would need her there, if Penelope was around. She was walking towards the party when she suddenly felt a tug, her wolf moved desperately inside her, something was wrong with Josie.
She followed the hitch into the woods where she ran into Penelope and MG.
"Are you going to howl at the moon in that dress?" Penelope asked when she saw the tribrid.
"I'm sorry I don't have time for your nonsense"
"where are you going?" asked MG
"To find Josie"
"What happened to Josie?" Penelope asked suddenly worried.
"Apparently her biological mother buried her in the cemetery and I need to look for her, now" commented the tribrid walking without stopping.
"We’ll go with you" said Mg and Penelope.
They walked to the cemetery, Hope was worried about the brunette and how all this could affect her pregnancy, she was just recovering from the previous problems.
"MG, I need you to be aware of the breaths"
"Give me the shovel, I hear something" said the vampire.
MG was digging until the rotten body of a dead man came out and began to attack him. Without giving a second thought, he stuck the shovel in his head,
"I hate zombies," Hope said as she saw more bodies rising from their graves. “Mg I need you to find Josie. Penelope and I will take care of the zombies "
The vampire nodded and began his search of the graveyard.
"Got it" the vampire yelled after a while.
Penelope and Hope ran to Mg and helped him dig until Josie came out covered in dirt.
"God, the talisman worked," Hope said.
"What is it supposed to do?"
"Makes quiet things heard" Hope commented.
Josie was sitting now, facing her father and Jo. She still couldn't understand what her parents were asking for.
"So we siphon the magic in you until ... you're dead again?" Lizzie asked.
"Lizzie," Josie said.
"what?"
"It's okay, Josie" said Jo "I'm already dead, I was a witch like you and we believe in the natural order of things, I shouldn't be here, I love having this, but it's a lie and I need you to help me do what it’s Right"
Josie looked up at her sister, tearful eyes trying to hold back.
"Oh my beautiful girls, I know you will be fine, be good to each other, fight for each other and take care of my future grandchildren" she smiled at Josie for the latter.
The girls took Jo's hand.
"I can't," Josie said.
"Being with you is the best gift I've ever received, but I'm dangerous, Josie"
"That's not true" was a little girl's denial, automatic and fervent. And at the moment uttering a complete truth. But Josie knew it was the right thing to do.
"It's the right thing to do, Josie"
"There must be another way," she plead. she knew there should be another.
Jo looked at her daughters, they were beautiful.
"Oh my little girl, you'll be fine" she looks at her face, memorizing her forever. "I love you, I love you so much my little ones"
She gave them one last look, before the girls began to siphon the magic until she completely disappeared in front of their eyes.
Tears fell down Josie's cheeks, her heart breaking.
Later that night, Josie went downstairs to the kitchen for a glass of water, where she found Hope.
"Hey, I knew what happened to your mother, are you okay?" the tribrid asked to the brunette.
"No, but I will be" Josie said sadly.
Hope looked down, feeling helpless at not being able to help her friend, she wishes there was a way.
"I told her about the babies," Josie said.
"really?" Hope asked
"Yes, she said I would be a good mother"
"You’ll be the best mother in the world Jo, these kids will be lucky" assured the tribrid.
"Thanks Hope, you'll be the best mom too" Josie smiled, pushing the pain away for a moment. Knowing that it would take a while to heal if it ever did.