Chapter Text
Hope watched Josie with fondness, enamored by how beautiful this girl was as Josie slept, appearing at peace, no doubt surrounded by sweet dreams. Josie’s hair was splayed out onto one pillow while her arms hugged what was supposed to be Hope’s pillow, though Hope didn’t mind letting her cute girlfriend hog up all of the pillows and blankets.
Josie’s chest rose and fell in even breaths. She snored a little bit, which made her even more adorable than Hope thought possible. Admiring Josie right before dawn had become Hope’s new favorite way of spending time. She chuckled softly each time Josie yawned in her sleep, watching with rapt attention how Josie smacked her lips together, making a cute sound.
Honestly, a baby dinosaur had nothing on Josie. Hope bent toward Josie, kissing her forehead as she always did before Josie rose. Hope’s lips lingered and she closed her eyes for a moment, wanting nothing more than to savor every fraction of every second.
Hope’s heart sped up, beating so loud; it could have woken up Josie if Hope had held her wrapped up in her arms.
“I love you, Jo,” Hope whispered, truer than the last time she said it, as her feelings grew stronger with each passing day. “I’ll always love you. You’re special to me, more than you know. One day, I hope I get to show you, if this stroke of luck I’m experiencing lasts because sometimes…” Hope took a deep breath. “Sometimes,” she sighed, “I feel like you deserve so much better than me, and I wouldn’t blame you if you’d realize that.”
Hope ventured lower, pecking Josie’s lips.
“Mhmm,” Josie hummed, stirring. “Hope?” she murmured, voice ridden with sleep, eyes still closed.
Hope snuck her arms around Josie’s waist. “It’s warm out, but stay anyway,” Hope requested, nuzzling close.
Josie smiled that pretty smile of hers. “With pleasure,” she replied, tucking her head in the crook of Hope’s neck.
Hope kissed the top of Josie’s head, holding her world with whispers of love.
Josie had meant to tell her sister as soon as the sun rose, but she got so nervous she almost threw up. It was her idea, she wanted Lizzie to know the truth once and for all, but Josie wasn’t sure where to even begin. She informed her girlfriend she was going to wait until nightfall, to which Hope agreed with nothing but love, support, and understanding.
Hope was always patient with Josie, didn’t pressure her. Josie smiled, toying with a lock of her hair, wondering how on earth she deserved to get this lucky. And it wasn’t just Hope making Josie feel that way. She also won the lottery when it came down to her parents. Her mother was true to her words and had spoken to her father.
After breakfast, once everyone had left the cafeteria, Josie got swept up in an expected hug by her father. He told her that he loved her no matter who she loved, which was pretty similar to what he said a few years back when Josie came out as pansexual. Her father also said that if she loved Hope, then she had his blessing because outside of their family, he couldn’t think of a person who would protect Josie more fiercely than Hope would.
Josie felt good knowing she had the support of her parents, her best friend, and oddly enough even that of her ex; whom Josie used to swear was the devil reincarnated. But there was one more person, a very important one, whose support Josie needed above everyone else’s. Lizzie was her sister, her twin, and Josie couldn’t help but put her first because it was in her nature.
With that in mind, Josie held her head up high as she began her walk toward her sister’s cabin. She could do this; she was going to do this. It was time; Josie was ready to provide her sister with answers to the questions Lizzie had asked more than once.
It was night now, two hours shy of curfew, which gave Josie enough time to tell Lizzie, and to discuss it afterward, though she hoped for the best. Josie imagined her sister might need a minute or two to adjust to the idea, to let it all sink in.
Josie repeated her confession over and over in her head while she reached her sister’s cabin. Dana wasn’t around, considering Penelope mentioned Dana always hung out with either her or others until curfew forced Dana to go back.
“You got this,” Josie whispered, nodding to herself before she knocked once to announce her presence.
Filled with determination and certainty, Josie opened the door and entered.
“Liz, can we t-” The rest of the sentence Josie had meant to say froze in the back of her throat.
Lizzie’s eyes brimmed with tears, enough to make Josie’s sting. Runny mascara had smudged Lizzie’s cheeks, and a purple-bluish mark discolored her rosy skin on her left cheek. Clothes were strewn across the floor, with Lizzie sitting on her knees on a small pile of them.
“Lizzie,” Josie gasped, rushing to kneel in front of her sister. “What happened? Who did this to you?” she questioned, grasping Lizzie’s chin with her index finger and thumb, carefully moving her head to the side to inspect the bruise.
“Ra-Rafael d-doesn’t l-like m-me-meee,” Lizzie sobbed, letting her tears stream.
Josie’s eyes widened. She swallowed hard because while Rafael had a temper, Josie didn’t think he’d ever be capable of doing such a terrible thing. “Rafael did this to you?”
Lizzie shook her head, wincing as she did so. “Dana did,” she revealed through gritted teeth. “I lash-lashed out…at her, and she…she pun-punched me.”
Josie wanted to set Dana on fire. How dare that irritating vampire lay a hand on her sister!? It didn’t matter if Lizzie lashed out, that didn’t justify Dana using her strength to hurt Lizzie. Besides, it was against school policy to cause someone bodily harm.
Josie fetched her sister a bottle of water, urging her to drink a bit while she caressed Lizzie’s back.
“I walked in on Dana making out with Rafael. She knows I like him, I know she did it on purpose, and I bet she’s not even interested in him,” Lizzie explained, balling up a shirt, throwing it as far as she could while letting out a grunt. “Dana said I could never stay as young and beautiful as her because I age and she doesn’t, but she’s not even that pretty.”
“You’re a hundred times more beautiful, no matter your age,” Josie assured her sister, “don’t listen to what Dana says.”
“It hurt, and I wanted to act as if it didn’t get to me, but instead I called her some names, and then she punched me,” Lizzie replied, lip quivering. “Everything is a mess. Rafael hooked up with my enemy, I have a bruise that’s ruining my perfect skin, and I have to put up with sharing a cabin with Dana while I want to share one with you. We always sleep next to each other. It’s not fair we got split up.”
“I know, it’s not fair,” Josie agreed, though with mixed feelings. Admittedly, at first, she wasn’t happy she didn’t get to share with her sister, but that changed quickly. Her nights were amazing, spending them cuddling with Hope.
“Your skin isn’t ruined, Liz,” Josie promised, thinking of ways she could remedy the bruise. “Magic could help you heal. It’s a light injury, so it should be possible if we ask help from...someone,” she suggested while Penelope and Hope came to mind.
“Magic won’t heal my broken heart,” Lizzie whispered, choking back tears.
Josie’s heart clenched. She couldn’t bear her sister hurting like this, and she felt helpless knowing she couldn’t absorb Lizzie’s pain to carry it so Lizzie wouldn’t have to. “I’m sorry things didn’t work out with Rafael,” Josie spoke, putting a hand on Lizzie’s shoulder.
“It’s not just Rafael,” Lizzie sighed, and those words took Josie by surprise.
“What do you mean?”
Lizzie chuckled bitterly. “You’ll probably laugh if I tell you. It’s ridiculous, really.”
“I won’t laugh, I promise,” Josie swore, looking her sister in the eyes.
“I’m not as oblivious as people think. I know M.G has been trying to make me swoon,” Lizzie sighed, rubbing at her eyes. “And he hasn’t been as unsuccessful as he thinks, but…but I don’t want to lead him on when nothing is going to happen anyway. I like him, I do, of course, I do, he’s a good friend, but I can’t be with him.”
Josie bit her lip. She had no idea Lizzie liked M.G back, but it wasn’t ridiculous at all. If anything, Josie would encourage her sister to pursue her best friend because she knew it could make both of them happy. M.G paid attention to Lizzie in ways Rafael never had, and he remembered important details others so easily missed.
“M.G is sweet to me, he really is,” Lizzie continued. “But I can’t see a future with him. I just can’t, no matter how much I wish I could. M.G will always be a teenager and he can’t give me the family I want.”
Josie didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t going to try to talk her sister into giving M.G a chance if Lizzie was adamant about wanting to further the family tree.
“Enough about me,” Lizzie decided before Josie had formed any sentence whatsoever. “What did you want to say, Jo? And don’t say it’s nothing because I know something is up. You came here for a reason. There’s something on your mind. I can tell. I’ve had a mild headache all day.”
“Is it about the person you’re seeing?” Lizzie inquired. “It is, isn’t it?”
Josie wrung her hands. “It is,” she admitted after a moment of hesitation. “I’m… I’m in a relationship,” she confessed, chewing her lip. “With…with an amazing girl, whom I love. I feel like she gets me, even when I don’t say anything at all. She understands my silence. With her, it’s as if quiet things are being heard.”
“When you describe her like that, I’m not surprised you tell me she’s amazing. Who is she?”
“It’s Hope,” Josie revealed. “Hope M-”
“Hope Mikaelson?” Lizzie gasped, eyebrows so high they almost touched her hairline. “The tribrid? Our frenemy? The one you’ve been sharing a cabin with?”
“That’s the one,” Josie confirmed, and that last word made her smile because yes, a thousand times yes, Hope was the one.
“Oh my god,” Lizzie whispered, her face a mixture of pure shock and a pinch of horror. “I can’t believe that out of all people, you’re dating the triple breed.”
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Lizzie said, blinking. “Huh, okay. I guess it’s an improvement compared to your psycho ex, and Hope isn’t half bad.”
Josie was finally able to breathe properly again. A large weight fell off of her shoulders now that Lizzie knew the truth.
“I must admit I’m kind of relieved.”
“Relieved?” Josie questioned with furrowed brows. “Relieved how?”
“I really thought you got back together with Penelope and lied about it,” Lizzie revealed with a dry chuckle. “Penelope is clearly still in love with you, so I thought you were trying to hide that you gave her another chance or something.”
Josie had to correct her sister, on part of what she said at least. She hadn’t been dishonest when she stated she wasn’t dating Penelope again. The latter, sadly, was true. Josie knew Penelope’s heart still bled for her, thanks to Penelope’s confession, and despite the pain Penelope caused in the past, it hurt Josie knowing she couldn’t return Penelope’s feelings.
Josie never wanted to break Penelope’s heart, even though Penelope very much broke Josie’s in the past. Josie didn’t love Penelope, she was in love with Hope, and that wasn’t bound to change, not with a love that ran so deep it could make the ocean jealous.
Ten years later…
“Mommy, mommy, I dwewed flowels fo you!”
Hope gasped and kneeled down, embracing the tiny girl as the little beam of sunlight threw her arms around Hope’s neck. “You did?” she asked, ruffling the mop of messy brown curls.
“U-huh!” the excited child exclaimed.
“It’s beautiful, I love it,” Hope said, accepting the drawing. “You did a really good job, kiddo.”
“Put it on the wegewatol, mommy!”
Hope chuckled, feeling her heart swell with love. “I’ll put it on the refrigerator, Hayley,” she promised with a kiss to the crown of her daughter’s head.
“Mommy, have you saw my puppy?” a small voice called out.
Hope knew she didn’t stand a chance when her son walked in with those cute little pouty lips of his that made it very difficult to ever say no to him, which was exactly why Hope got him a dog in the first place.
“I haven’t, sweetheart,” Hope answered, walking over to her son to pick him up. She placed her two-and-a-half-year-old on her hip, wandering out of the kitchen. “Did you leave the door open again?”
“No, mommy.”
“Do you remember what mommy told you about lying?” Hope questioned, combing her son’s blonde locks with her hand while he nodded, sucking his bottom lip into his mouth. “Be honest, Niklaus, did you forget to close the door when you came inside?”
Tears welled up in little Nicky’s eyes. “Y-yes, I fowgotted.”
“Oh, it’s okay, baby,” Hope hushed, rubbing her son’s back. Her heart ached when Nicky buried his face in her neck. “Mommy’s not mad at you. We’re going to find your puppy, and we’re going to be extra super careful next time, okay?”
“O-okay,” Nicky hiccupped through his tears.
“Mammy!” Hayley squealed, so loud it made Hope’s ears hurt. The tiny toddler bolted toward the door where the love of Hope’s life walked in with a squirming puppy in her hands.
Nicky’s eyes lit up. “You founded Eli!” he shouted, making grabby hands, wriggling in Hope’s arms.
“I take it it’s too late for me to say ‘honey, I’m home’.”
Hope smiled at her wife, putting Nicky down so he could run over to his other mother. “The twins missed you,” she sighed out, circling her arms around Josie’s waist as soon as she handed over Eli to Nicky and Hayley.
“I missed them as well,” Josie replied, pulling Hope closer.
Hope stole a quick kiss, smiling at the way their children giggled, which was ten times better than the ew-phase they went through half a year ago. “I love you, Jo,” she whispered, kissing her wife’s nose.
“I love you too, Hope,” Josie hummed, nudging Hope’s nose until their lips met.
Hope smiled into it. “Guess what, babe,” she uttered, kissing her wife again.
“Hmm…” Josie wriggled her nose, all adorable the way she did whenever she was thinking something over, as Hope had learned over the past decade. “Either you cleaned out the garage,” Josie guessed while Hope shook her head, “or you made another painting of our little cuties, which we’ll have to hang up somewhere special.”
“I’m always painting or sketching, that’s not a surprise,” Hope pointed out with a smile while her wife agreed she was right.
“Suplies?” Hayley cooed, ever the little eavesdropper.
Hope crouched down. “It’s a surprise for the most beautiful mammy in the whole wide world,” she explained, booping Hayley’s tiny nose.
Hayley giggled in response. “No suplies Hay?” she inquired with a pout, pressing her finger against her chest.
“Maybe a little bit for you and your brother as well,” Hope answered, covering her ears when the twins began to scream whilst jumping up and down.
“Suplies!” Hayley and Nicky squealed.
Josie chuckled, eyes twinkling. “If you got them another d-o-g, I am moving,” she warned Hope.
“It’s not a p-u-p-p-y,” Hope promised, taking her wife’s hands in hers, carefully spelling out the word. She learned her lesson on what not to say in front of their children a couple of months ago, when Hope suggested indulging in dessert after Hayley and Nicky would be off to bed.
Between the twins squealing and Josie batting her eyelashes; Hope could no longer keep it to herself long enough to add a drumroll.
“Your mother,” Hope began, glancing at Hayley and Nicky, “your grandmother will be staying with us for a few days. She arrives tomorrow.”
Josie’s lips parted. Her eyes filled with tears, and then she was in Hope’s arms. Hope caressed her wife’s back, knowing Josie hadn’t seen her mother since the twins had turned two.
“Nana?” Nicky questioned with a toothy grin.
“That’s right, sweetheart,” Hope confirmed. “Nana will visit us soon.”
Hayley’s face lit up. “Pwesens!” she shouted, smiling from ear to ear.
Josie chuckled. “My mother has got to stop spoiling our children with presents,” she whispered in her wife’s ear. “Thank you for arranging this, Hope. I have no idea how you did it. Last week, on the phone, she was halfway across the world and unsure if she could see us at all this year.”
Hope shrugged a shoulder. “I can be persuasive,” she claimed, thinking of how she roped her aunts and uncle into obtaining some artifacts Caroline was after all over the world, so Caroline could come over to celebrate Christmas.
Socked feet padded down the hall, faster as Josie ran out of the bathroom with two matching Christmas jumpers. They were red with little reindeers on them, picked up by Hayley and Nicky themselves when they all went shopping together two weeks ago.
“Hayley… Niklaus, come back here,” Josie demanded, chasing after the sneaky little rugrats as they giggled. “It’s too cold to walk around in your underwear. Mammy doesn’t want you to get sick.”
“Hayley and Nicky, listen to your mother,” Hope called out from downstairs. “Or else we will go to the doctor for another shot.”
“Nooooo,” the twins whined.
Josie shook her head, smiling, recalling how much the twins had fussed and whimpered when they had to get their flu shots last month. Oftentimes, Josie was too soft to put her foot down and be stern, but thankfully, she had her wife.
Josie bumped into Hayley and little Nicky as they had turned around to heed their mother’s warning. “Arms up,” Josie requested, wriggling them into their cute jumpers.
Josie hugged her little angels once she combed their hair and helped them brush their teeth. Anticipating her mother’s visit made her smile, especially because she owed her mother the world. Josie’s eyes flitted between her twins, whom thanks to her mother, would never have to merge, just as she didn’t have to do that with her sister.
One year before Josie turned twenty-two, she discovered something was horribly wrong. Ultimately, it was Hope’s shaky voice that revealed a truth Josie’s parents tried to hide with all of their might. There was to be a merge once Josie and Lizzie turned twenty-two, where one of them, the weaker one, would die. It explained to Josie why her mother was absent almost all the time. Then, one day, a solution came, but it came with a price.
Either Lizzie or Josie had to give up being a siphoner, if not, they would have to merge. So, naturally, Josie offered for her magic to be taken away. It was quite the sacrifice, though it was far better than dying or worse, risking killing Lizzie.
But fate decided otherwise. Josie had always known in her heart her sister wasn’t as selfish as everyone made her out to be. Lizzie had a bigger heart than people gave her credit for, so much so, she went behind Josie’s back to give up her powers, and all Lizzie had to say when Josie asked how she could do such a thing was, “magic is all around you, I couldn’t let you lose that part of yourself, not when you and Hope make such a great team.”
“Mammy loves both of you so, so much,” Josie breathed out, smiling as small arms reached around her neck.
When Hope and Josie made the choice to have children, Josie opted to go through pregnancy. It was easier than letting a tribrid go through the process. Upon learning Josie was expecting twins; she found it important Hope was able to pass on her parents’ names.
“I want pansakes,” Nicky pleaded, already halfway a pout Josie couldn’t resist.
“Pancakes, hm?” Josie smiled, tickling her son’s tummy. “I think you had those yesterday.”
“Not today,” Hayley – ever the cute little smartass – said.
Josie drew her twins closer, hugging them once more, not yet wanting to think about how one day; one of them would have to give up their siphoning powers, although so far they hadn’t shown any signs of magic.
The sound of the doorbell ringing brought Josie back to the present.
“Nana!” Nicky and Hayley cheered, running as fast as their little legs could carry them.
“Nana, nana, nana!” Hayley chirped, first to stumble into Caroline’s waiting arms. “You gotted pwesens?” Hayley inquired with wide serious eyes.
“Of course I do, beanie!” Caroline replied, matching Hayley’s enthusiasm. “Santa brought a large bag full of presents to my house just for the two of you,” Caroline said, scooping the twins up.
“I’m sure he did, mom,” Josie sighed, giving her mother a pointed look because they had been over this before, no more than one small present at a time.
Hope who was still by the door, holding it open, chuckled. “We might need another tree,” she spoke, chancing a glance outside as she added, “hello, welcome to our home. Please come in.”
“Yes, please do,” Josie agreed, shivering at the gush of cold wind. “We wouldn’t want Eli to get out again,” she reasoned with a quick polite smile.
Lizzie entered with Eloise on one hip and Rosalind on the other. Three years ago, she gave birth to those darling little girls. Ellie and Rose were particularly well-behaved, always saying please and thank you. Lizzie’s husband, whom Lizzie had referred to before as tall, dark, and handsome, followed in tow with a stack of presents in his arms.
“You wouldn’t believe the traffic on our way here,” Lizzie groaned, setting down Ellie and Rose. “And we had to make a stop because Ellie had to pee, and then we had to make another stop because I had to pee.”
“You’re not late, don’t worry about it,” Josie assured her sister.
“Penny!” Nicky squealed, peeling himself away from his nana to hug his arms around Penelope’s legs.
Hayley followed suit. “Auntie Penny!”
Penelope ruffled her hands through their hair. “Hey, if it isn’t my favorite niece and nephew,” she said, whispering a modest spell that made fake snow appear in the living room.
Josie couldn’t even begin to complain about having to clean it up afterward. Penelope was a good aunt to her children, and she was glad she gave her old flame the chance to stay in her life, which was a decision Hope never treated as an issue.
“Vamos, Isabella,” Raven – a young gorgeous Latina – called out, sighing as she hovered at the entrance. “Come inside so Auntie Hope can close the door. It’s cold out.”
Josie welcomed the werewolf with a smile. Raven was Penelope’s girlfriend, had been for eight months, give or take, if Josie wasn’t mistaken.
“Si, mami,” Isabella muttered, stomping her feet to shake the snow off her boots. The five-year-old’s thick, brown curly hair was partially hidden underneath a hat. “Hayley, Nicky,” she smiled, waving at the twins with delight in her warm hazel eyes.
It was only the second time Hayley and Niklaus met Isabella, but they immediately waved back.
From what Josie had gathered, Raven used to have a boyfriend, who ditched her after finding out she got pregnant, and Penelope didn’t know at first Raven was a mother, but when Penelope learned the truth, she stuck around. Something about Penelope swearing she thought Raven was the one. Josie felt happy knowing Penelope was at peace with a little family of her own.
Seeing nothing but smiling faces on this lovely Christmas day filled Josie’s heart with warmth.
“Wait, Bella, sweetiepie, I’ll give you a hand with your coat,” Penelope spoke, walking over to Isabella. “Don’t smile at me like this interaction melts your heart, Saltzman,” she sighed while she passed Josie, “I’m only trying to help my- my ah, girlfriend’s daughter because I know her zipper gets stuck sometimes.”
Josie raised her hands. “I didn’t say anything.”
Hope smiled in a way that had trouble written all over it. “I must say, parenting becomes you, Penelope,” she commented, and yes, there it was.
Josie wrapped her arms around her short wife from behind. “You always have to poke, don’t you?” she whispered, resting her chin on Hope’s shoulder while she observed their family with a smile.
“Gracias, mommy,” Isabella said to Penelope once she was freed from her jacket. “Can I go play with Hayley, Nicky, Ellie, and Rose?”
Penelope opened and closed her mouth. She glanced at Raven, who nodded. “Um, ah, sure thing,” Penelope answered, smiling as her eyes found Isabella again. “She called me mommy,” she uttered, blinking away a tear while the little girl ran off to play with her friends. “Did you hear that? She called me mommy.”
If Josie wasn’t smiling before as if her heart melted, she sure was now.
“I heard, mi amor,” Raven responded, smiling at Penelope.
“Why is your house so dusty?” Lizzie commented, wiping away tears. “Some of it got stuck in my eyes.”
Penelope rolled her eyes, though she smiled. “It wouldn’t kill you to admit you’re mushy on the inside, Elizabeth.”
“Maybe your magic isn’t what it used to be, Parkman. This fake snow feels like amateur hour.”
“At least I still got magic,” Penelope shot back.
“Oh please, my girls are all the magic I need.”
Josie and Hope chuckled as their family got caught up in bickering. Ah, good times. While Josie hugged her wife, the only thought on her mind was home sweet home.
For better or worse.
In sickness and in health.
From dusk ‘till dawn.