Family
Hope nervously stood in front of the laptop. With a sigh, she hits a key and waited for it to connect with her family.
"Hope?" she hears the voice of her uncles and aunts.
"I need to tell you something" her words were strong, but her body trembled with fear, because these were the words that would seal her fate and change her life, no matter the outcome. "I'll be a mother"
She thought of Josie and how she promised she would do this. She would do this quickly and find her later to eat.
Her knock was hesitant against the wooden surface and she tilted her head, listening to the soft moan and sound of shuffling feet. Josie opened the door, leaning against the edge, as she asked, her voice a little husky from sleep.
"Hope, what are you doing here?"
She raised her excuse, trying to smile.
"I brought you your herbal tea"
The brunette's eyes softened, telling her that she saw right through her, took the cup, opening the door for her to pass. She enters noticing that the blonde's bed was made.
"And Lizzie?"
"I spend the night with MG"
Hope nodded, turning to her. Josie's hair was a little curly around her face, tangled from sleep, she was also wearing the I Love NOLA hoodie that Hope gave her and shorts, she had one hand resting on her belly. Her breath caught at the sight of her, soft and warm in the sunlight streaming across the room.
She sat on the bed, taking a sip of her tea.
"I thought we'd meet later for breakfast."
"I couldn't sleep" Hope admitted looking down at the floor.
She heard her approach and a smile shot from the corner of her mouth as the fluffy slippers came into view. Josie cupped her jaw, the touch of her hand against her face soothed her and she inhaled, absorbing the scent from her, memorizing it. She lifts her eyes to meet the familiar browns.
Josie looked into her eyes as she ran her thumb across the tribrid's cheekbone.
"nothing?"
Hope shook her head slowly. Sleeping had been impossible the night before. All she could think about is how her family would react to the news, she didn't want to disappoint them. It's true that Freya had reacted well, but she couldn't expect the same from others. Her eyes fell on Josie. She didn't want any problems she might have with her family to affect Josie in any way. She wanted to tell her everything she meant to her, wanted to take care of her. She had to tell her before something happened.
"Josie, I ..."
Her finger covers her lips, stopping the words and shook her head. Instead, Josie hug her.
"Everything will be fine; we'll see you later"
Hope hugged her fiercely, hoping she was right.
"I’ll see you later"
"WHAT?" Rebekah was the first to break the awkward silence.
Kol just looked at her, until Davina slapped him on the arm to say something.
"This was not something we expected, dear niece"
"I thought they were taking good care of you at that school, Alaric and Caroline will listen to me" said Rebekah a little annoyed.
"Aunt Bekah, wait you can't say anything to Caroline"
"why not?"
"I still haven't told you the whole story" said the tribrid. Before she started to tell how she was now in this predicament.
"Wow" said Kol "I didn't know you had it in you, little wolf" smiled the boy cheekily.
"Kol, shut up" Rebekah said. "we'll be there in a few days, you and Josie will join us for dinner and we'll talk about this more calmly"
The entire family agreed to attend the dinner, before ending the call.
Josie picked up the phone and then dropped it on the bed. Then She takes it again to drop it again that harsh routine lasted for several minutes.
Lizzie walked into the room as she saw her sister doing that routine, she smiled in amusement.
"I guess you haven't called mom?"
"No" said Josie, falling on the bed "I have no idea how to tell her about this"
Lizzie watched as her sister made a gesture towards the belly that was clearly showing now, sat down next to her.
"I have to say, I'm surprised that wolfie isn't here offering emotional support when you tell mom"
Josie's lips pouted that said she wished Hope was there, too.
"Yeah well, she's busy telling the rest of her family"
"All of them?"
Josie nodded.
"We agreed that we would tell everyone, also if we’re going to raise two little ones, we’ll need all the help we can get"
A knock on the door made both girls look up to see MG's face peeking out the door.
“Lizzie, the movie will start in a few minutes. Hi Jo, how are you and the babies? "
Josie stroked her belly lovingly.
"we’re fine"
Lizzie got up.
"We’re going to see Wonder Woman; do you want to come?"
"no thanks. I have a call to make "
"Good luck," the blonde said before heading out the door.
Now alone, she picks up the phone and dial her mother.
"Caroline Forbes" heard her mother's voice.
"Hi Mom"
"Josie?" She could hear the surprise in her voice, hardly spoken since her birthday "is everything alright, honey?"
"Yes, everything is fine, and how are you?" She asks trying to delay the inevitable.
"Very good" she heard the smile in her mother's voice.
The silence stretched awkwardly until Josie decided to speak.
"Mom, there is something I have to tell you" She takes a deep breath "I'm pregnant"
If she had thought the previous silence to be loud, this was deafening in comparison. She began to wonder if the line had been cut.
"Ah, mom?"
"I'll be in Mystic Falls tomorrow at noon, I expect to talk to both you and the boy in question then"
"No, mom, that's not really ..." a click sounded, letting her know that the conversation was over. "Great, Hope is going to love this"
"Maybe I should change," Hope said playing with her leather jacket.
Josie rolled her eyes.
"Hope, I already told you, everything will be fine, you're fine"
"I thought the deal was we each deal with our own family, not each other's" she protested nervously. If there was something worse than having to tell her family about Josie's pregnancy, it was telling Josie's mother.
Josie shrugged.
"Well, I already met your aunt Freya and everything went well"
"Josie, you’re carrying the Mikaelson’s next generation, of course she likes you"
She smiled.
"true"
"Your mom is going to hate me"
"Of course not, she likes you more than Penelope"
"Yeah well, I'm pretty sure that won't last long after you tell her that I was the one who got you pregnant" she looks around the room "where is Lizzie?"
“She said that as much as she would love to have a front seat to see all this, she also knows that when an explosion is getting ready to happen it’s best to find cover. But she does want details when it's all over "
"Great" she mutters "She deserted at the last minute"
Josie smiled at the pout the tribrid made and walked over to her, taking her hand.
"Don't worry, Hope. You still got me "
Feeling absurdly satisfied, the tribrid smiled.
"Well it's time to go" Josie said leaving with Hope still holding her hand.
When they saw their mother arriving and a few minutes later Hope's family, or at least part of Hope's family, only Kol and Rebekah were coming, the tribrid guessed it wasn’t to overwhelm Josie. both girls looked at the faces of their relatives, they thought that perhaps join both parts of the family hadn’t been a very bright idea,
"Hi mom" greeting Josie "hello too Hope's family"
"Mrs. Forbes, guys," Hope said awkwardly.
"Hope I'm glad to see you, has Josie brought you back as backup?" asked Caroline
"You still haven't told her?" Rebekah asked her niece.
"That's why you all are here" said Hope.
"What is Rebekah talking about?" Caroline asked looking at both girls.
"Ah ... I'm the one who got Josie pregnant," Hope said.
Kol smiled.
"Oh, Nik would find this so lovely"
"What are you talking about, Uncle Kol?" Hope asked her uncle.
"Well the little blonde here" he pointed out to Caroline "she had something with your father, but apparently he never got as far as you with her daughter"
For the second time in those days, Caroline Forbes was speechless. Josie exhaled when the waiter came over to take their orders.
A few minutes later the boy arrived with their orders.
“Come on let's eat” said Josie “you can kill us after we eat. Babies are hungry "
"babies?" the 3 adults asked.
"Twins" Hope smiled.
"Congratulations, my dear," Kol said with a smile towards her niece.
"But the merge ..." Caroline commented
"Aunt Freya is in charge of that, I’ll not let something happen to Josie or our children" Hope said firmly.
Rebekah looked at both girls.
"So you are dating?"
"No, Hope and I are just friends" replied the brunette.
"Friends don’t share a baby or in this case two" Caroline said, she didn’t believe that the girls in front of her weren’t in a relationship.
"Well, we do and it's very hypocritical of you to think that, given your situation with dad." Josie was upset with her mother.
"Jo, calm down" Hope said, taking her hand.
"Don't tell me to calm down" she said angrily.
"Jo, your mother is only worried about you, just like we were worried about babies, so let's talk about this, okay?"
Josie reluctantly agreed.
The adults watched the exchange guardedly, unable to hide their surprise. The way the girls could calm each other down was fascinating to them.
Hope looked at Caroline.
"Mrs. Forbes I know our circumstance is unusual, but Josie and I are fully committed to making this work and not, we aren’t together, but now we’re a family and that is the only relationship that matters."
The Mikaelsons were proud of their girl, for them family was not only important, but the only thing that mattered.
The rest of the meeting passed lightly, the adults asked them about pregnancy, school or any topic of importance to the girls. They knew that the girls would be fine, whatever type of relationship they had, they saw that it was strong enough that they could handle it all.
They knew that they would be alright.
That same night, Caroline came down to the school kitchen for some blood when she came across Hope, peering into the fridge pulling out a jar of chocolate chip cookie ice cream.
"What are you doing, Hope?" Caroline asked the tribrid.
"Serving some ice cream and slicing some fruit" said the girl as if it was quite normal to do that in the middle of the night.
"At 2 AM?"
“Josie and I are watching a movie, and she said the babies had a craving for mango and chip cookie ice cream,” she commented as she chopped the fruit.
"You know Josie is using ‘the babies’ thing to get her way?" the blonde asked curious to know if Hope could see that she was being duped, she remembers doing it with Stefan when she was pregnant with the twins.
“It doesn't bother me,” Hope replied, “she's having the babies, which means to me that if there's anything she wants that I can give her, I'll do it. She deserves it"
"She hasn't had much of that a lot in her life" admitted Caroline, Josie was the person who cared the most and cared for others "someone to take care of her"
"Now she has me." Hope looked into her eyes.
Caroline could almost feel the reprimand in Hope's eyes for not being there for Josie, but she had good reason, she couldn't make the merge happen, she didn't want to lose one of her daughters.
"How do you feel about Josie?" She asks.
"She’s one of the most important people in my life" said Hope seriously "and I care a lot about her"
"and the babies? Most young people don't want to be stuck with such a great responsibility at such a young age,” Caroline insisted deliberately.
Hope cut the fruit a little harder than she meant to.
“I'm not stuck with my babies. I’ll admit I wasn't prepared for this, but those babies are my family. And family is always and forever above all "
Hope took the plates and left the kitchen.
Caroline stood there for a moment, remembering Klaus saying the same words. She smiled and ran to catch up with Hope.
"Look Caroline, I don't care what you think about me, you just have to know that I will do whatever it takes to protect them," Hope said when she saw Josie's mother by her side.
“I know you will, Hope. She's lucky to have you”, the blonde smiled at her before letting her continue on her way. "She is great, Klaus, you would be very proud" said the blonde towards nowhere, before walking to her room.