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Hope wonders if it’s possible to reactivate one’s werewolf gene, because she’s about to go on a murder spree.
The afternoon sun shines brightly through the infirmary window. It’s an abnormally warm day for winter, yet Josie is still shivering, teeth chattering uncontrollably.
Hope looks up, glaring at the source of Josie’s discomfort.
A fucking rain cloud.
Whoever had cast the spell was good, the rain only affecting its intended target: Josie’s drenched, but everything around her remains dry—the infirmary bed she’s sitting on, the school bag next to her, even the damn floor.
Gold threatens to take over Hope’s vision.
Whoever had cast the spell was also very, very dead.
“Found it!” Lizzie walks through the door smiling triumphally, a yellow umbrella in hand. Her smile drops when she hands it to Josie, their hands brushing. “Shit, Jo, your hands are freezing.”
Josie opens the umbrella, letting out a small sigh of relief when most of the rain stops hitting her. The shivering continues, though, and Hope clenches her teeth, wishing there were something she could do to help.
They’ve tried everything they could think of—performing what they believed was the counter spell, having the twins siphon from the rain cloud, even a simple warmth spell to at least ease some of Josie’s discomfort and nothing.
Hope feels utterly useless.
There’s an idea niggling at the back of her mind, but… Hope feels herself blushing at the mere thought of it, so it’s her last resort. Surely they can come up with something el—
Josie sneezes. Josie fucking sneezes, and that is it. Hope is done with this bullshit.
“Lizzie, go help your dad and Dorian with the research.”
Lizzie would usually argue—she even opens her mouth to do so, but the determination in Hope’s eyes prevents the words from actually forming. After the whole Dark Josie fiasco, Lizzie has learned to trust Hope where her sister’s wellbeing is concerned.
Clifford the Big Red Dog might be annoyingly overprotective when it comes to Josie—probably because she’s in love with her, though the idiot denies it—, but her track record speaks for itself.
As long as Hope is there, Josie will be okay.
So, instead of arguing like she usually would (Lizzie should pat herself in the back for her progress, really), she gives Hope a small nod and leaves, throwing one last concerned look over her shoulder before disappearing down the hallway.
Hope closes the infirmary door behind Lizzie, the rhythm of her heartbeat increasing the second she turns the lock with a soft click.
She walks towards the bed and carefully sits down next to Josie. If this were a regular rain cloud, she would be able to feel the cold water hitting her by now—instead, the raindrops disintegrate the moment they’re about to come into contact with her skin.
Josie doesn’t react to her presence, her unblinking gaze fixated on the ground. She’s hugging herself with the arm that’s not holding the umbrella, still trembling. She looks so small, so defeated, that Hope’s wolf begs to be let out, the need to hunt down the fucker who hurt Josie becoming almost primal.
“Jo?” Hope asks gently, though the emotions raging inside her are anything but.
Still no reaction. Josie’s eyes look so damn empty, like their usual fire has somehow been extinguished by the unrelenting rain.
“Jo?” she tries again, carefully placing her hand on top of Josie’s. Shit. Lizzie was right; Josie’s freezing, any trace of the warmth Hope has fondly come to associate with the girl, gone.
“Hmm?” Hope’s touch seems to ground Josie, who blinks slowly and begins coming out of her daze.
“If this goes on, you could get hypothermia. I think we should…” Hope lets the sentence trail off, her previous determination abandoning her.
“After everything I did, it’s not like I wouldn’t deserve it.” It’s barely a whisper, but Hope hears it loud and clear. And she fucking hates it; hates that Josie can’t let go of the blame, that the assholes in this damn school won’t let her let go of the blame, pointing and whispering day after day; as if they were any better, as if most of them hadn’t done similar or worse things.
And just like that, Hope’s determination is back.
“Take off your clothes.”
Wait, no. That came out wrong.
Hope feels her cheeks practically burst into flames—she’d suspect Josie of doing a fire spell if her friend weren’t in such a numb state.
In fact, Josie barely reacts to Hope’s unusual request. It’s a testament to how far gone she is.
“What?” She says, barely above a whisper, scrunching her eyebrows in confusion.
“Um, sorry, I didn’t mean…” Hope takes a deep breath, trying to compose herself. “The rain won’t touch me and I run wolf-hot, so I was thinking I could act as some kind of thermal blanket slash umbrella for you? But it won’t work if you still have your wet clothes on, lowering your body temperature.”
She can see the hesitation in Josie’s face. Desperation claws at her stomach. “Please, Jo, let me help you. We don’t know how long the spell will last and I can’t just sit here doing nothing while you get closer to hypothermia by the second.”
Josie chews on her lip, considering this for a moment. “Okay,” she finally accepts after what feels like an hour to Hope but was probably only a minute or two.
“Okay?” Josie gives her a curt nod and Hope smiles at her in what she hopes is a reassuring way.
They stand up at the same time, Josie losing her balance slightly. Once she recovers, she hands Hope the umbrella and just stands there, looking a bit lost. Hope’s about to open her mouth to say something when Josie starts unbuttoning her wet shirt with shaky fingers.
Hope averts her eyes.
Josie is standing really close to her, trying to stay under the protection the umbrella provides. Their proximity is driving Hope insane, though she’d rather fight all of Malivore’s monsters again than ever admit it out loud.
The sound of Josie’s wet shirt hitting the floor snaps Hope out of her thoughts. She gulps, still not daring to look at the other girl as she hears the zipper of Josie’s skirt being undone.
A second passes before Hope hears the skirt land on the floor as well. “Ready,” Josie’s soft voice confirms.
“Okay then,” Hope looks up, making sure to keep her gaze on Josie’s eyes, and hands the umbrella back to her, “why don’t you sit on the bed, near the headboard?”
The moment Josie takes a step towards the bed, Hope glues her gaze to the ceiling. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see the rain cloud moving in sync with Josie.
She hears the bed creak under Josie’s weight and then some shuffling as Josie makes herself comfortable. After a couple of seconds, there’s only silence.
Hope swallows, realizing she will have to look at Josie for what comes next.
Josie is sitting cross-legged in the center of the bed, her back leaning slightly against the headboard. She’s wearing light blue underwear, her toned body almost fully on display.
Under different circumstances, the sight would have taken Hope’s breath away.
Right now, her focus zeroes in on the even more violent shivers raking through Josie’s body now that her skin’s exposed and her mind switches to mission mode.
Without saying a word, she climbs on the bed and sits in front of Josie, their knees brushing. Hope removes the old hoodie she’s wearing and bunches it up in her hands.
“Can I?” She moves the hoodie closer to Josie’s skin, attempting to convey her intentions.
Josie nods. She still seems a bit distant but she’s no longer lost in her thoughts, tormenting herself, which is enough for Hope.
She starts meticulously drying Josie’s body off with the fabric in her hands and though she tries not to let her gaze linger, her traitorous eyes greedily drink in the smooth skin on display.
“You don’t deserve this.” The words Josie had whispered earlier haven’t left her mind. Hope grabs Josie’s chin, gently turning her face as she dabs the wetness in her cheeks away. “What happened wasn’t your fault, Jo. And even if it were, you still wouldn’t deserve this.”
Josie remains quiet.
“Okay, all done,” Hope says as she gives Josie’s forehead a final dab. She tosses her hoodie aside, not caring in the least where it ends up.
Before her courage abandons her again, Hope takes the umbrella back from Josie, keeping it above her friend, and then gives her a soft push; Josie understands what Hope wants and lies down fully on the bed.
Acting quickly so Josie doesn’t get wet again, Hope places the umbrella at Josie’s feet and then lies on top of the other girl, lining her body up perfectly with Josie’s—as if they were reflections of each other—to prevent the rain from touching her, the raindrops disappearing into thin air when they get too close to Hope.
Josie’s head is buried in the crook of her neck, so Hope feels rather than hears the content sigh Josie lets out at her newfound warmth. Hope’s heart joins her, letting out a content sigh of its own.
Given that she’s shorter than Josie, the umbrella near the bottom of the bed keeps the taller girl’s feet dry. Hope had briefly considered asking one of the bigger wolves to do this instead, but her wolf shut that idea down quickly, recoiling at the mere suggestion that she wasn’t enough to keep Josie safe.
All in all, it’s not the most comfortable position, but it keeps Josie mostly dry and warm and that’s all Hope cares about. It helps her wolf calm down, too, thoughts of revenge temporarily pushed to the back of her mind.
“I chose to do black magic and people got hurt because of it,” Hope feels Josie’s cold lips move against her neck; the sensation sends shivers down her spine. “I deserve to face the consequences of my actions.”
“You were manipulated by an authority figure you thought you could trust, Jo. I know it will take time, but one day you’ll see this wasn’t your fault and, in the meantime, I’ll always be there to remind you of what a kind-hearted, strong and beautiful human you are.” Hope places a chaste kiss on Josie’s neck and feels a small smile form on the other girl’s lips.
Josie snuggles deeper into the crook of Hope’s neck, a silent ‘thank you’.
They stay quiet for a moment, simply enjoying each other’s company. Just when Hope starts to think Josie might have been lulled to sleep by the comforting warmth, her body exhausted from having trembled so much, the other girl speaks.
“In my subconscious, you said Dark Josie was a part of me, and that encouraged me to fight her, but now…” She trails off, and Hope can feel her shudder underneath her—she doesn’t think it’s from the cold. “I’m scared, Hope. What if she takes over again?”
Hope’s heart breaks a little at how small Josie sounds. Oh, how she wishes she could hug her right now, but that’d only lead to Josie’s arms getting wet all over again.
“The black magic powering her is gone and you’re still here. You took control of your story, she can never hurt you again.” Since she can’t caress Josie without the rain getting to her, she rubs her nose delicately against the skin of her neck instead. She hears Josie’s breath catch. “And hey, you know us Mikaelsons have a tendency to give in to our darkness… How about we keep each other in check? That way, we’ll never have to face the darkness alone.”
Josie nods. “Thank you, Hope. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Right back at you, Jo.” She smiles widely, knowing Josie can feel the action against her skin.
They go back to basking in the quiet and warmth of their little bubble. Hope hopes this damn spell won’t last much longer; mainly for Josie’s sake, but a small part of her also knows Alaric won’t hesitate sending her to a Prison World if he were to witness Hope’s idea of ‘helping his daughter’.
“Hope?” The rhythm of Josie’s heart picks up, which immediately gets Hope’s attention.
“Yes?”
“I-in my subconscious… If you knew it was consensual, would you have kissed me?”
Hope’s mind goes blank for a minute. The Necromancer himself could’ve showed up and she wouldn’t have moved a muscle.
Should she—
Wait, was Josie—
Fuck it.
“Yes.” Hope lifts her head and looks directly into Josie’s beautiful eyes, needing the girl to understand how much she means it.
Josie flashes her a playful grin. “Good because my lips are still cold.”
“We can’t have that, can we?” Hope whispers as she leans in.
When their lips brush, the coldness of Josie’s lips makes the moment all the more real in Hope’s disbelieving mind.
This is really happening.
Josie closes the gap between them and Hope swears she can see colors behind her eyelids.
Above them, the rain starts to fade.