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Josie quickly presses her back to the wall of the hallway, hiding herself away from the eyes of her father and Klaus. The words of the two men come to her ears, making her heart painfully race inside her chest. The brunette is feeling a heavy mix of anger and worry as she hears them talk.
She needs to get to Hope as soon as possible.
The thing is that her girlfriend is sitting in the infirmary right now, and that room is right in front of Alaric's office. Josie can't go in until he closes the door of his office, which happens as soon as Klaus and him start to raise their voices. When the door clicks shut, Josie bolts out of her hiding spot and goes straight to the infirmary, still careful to not be seen. The brunette closes the door of the room behind her, and as soon as she turns around she's met with a sight that breaks her heart. Hope is holding a bag of ice over her right eye, and she has a cut on her bottom lip.
Hope is surprised as soon as she sees her girlfriend, and it makes her eyes grow big. She immediately regrets it when pain shoots through her injured eye.
"Josie…" Is all the auburn haired girl allows herself to say.
The brunette leans against the door, her eyes glued to Hope.
"What's wrong with you?" Josie asks, her voice sharp and angry. Hope opens her mouth, just to close it a second later. "Rafael is like at least twice your size! Why would you pick a fight with him? My dad wants to expel you! Have you seen yourself, Hope? You're all bruised up, and for what? Showing you're all edgy and shit? You're unbelievable."
The auburn haired girl looks like a kicked puppy as she avoids looking at her girlfriend and instead fixes her eyes on her own shoes. Josie looks at her girlfriend for a long moment, waiting for an answer. Hope never says a word, never looks up. After a while, Josie sighs and shakes her head, defeat settling inside her heart.
"I don't understand, Hope. You worked so hard." Josie softly says now. "We studied to get your grades up. You stopped getting into fights and drinking. It had been two months without you getting into trouble!"
When Josie realizes that Hope is still not saying a word, and is still looking at her feet, the brunette starts walking closer. When she's close enough, Josie leans her forehead on the top of Hope's head, while her fingers gently tangle themselves in auburn locks. The Mikaelson girl lets out a shaky breath before she hesitantly embraces the brunette.
"Talk to me." Josie pleads.
Hope takes a shaky breath in. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ruin everything. I wanted to be better, I swear I wanted to. I was walking and I heard him say all those things and-"
"Wait, what was he saying?" Josie interrupts her as she moves away to look at Hope. The Mikaelson girl still tries to avoid her girlfriend's eyes, but Josie gently lifts her chin so they have to make eye contact. "Tell me what he said, Hope."
"He said it would be easy to sleep with you." A fire appears in Hope's eyes. "His exact words were 'It'd be easy to get the Saltzman bitch in bed.' And it got me so angry, Josie. I couldn't contain it. I'm so sorry."
Josie can't hide the hurt she feels at knowing that someone who calls themselves her friend could say something like that. Hope's grip on her shirt gets tighter as they hold eye contact. Josie can't be mad at her girlfriend anymore. She still wishes Hope would have held back, but she understands the need to protect the one you love.
The Saltzman girl gently caresses Hope's cheeks with her thumbs as she cups her face. Then, she leans down and leaves a soft kiss on her girlfriend's forehead.
"Does it hurt badly?"
Hope lightly shakes her head. "My eye is bruised, and it hurts sometimes. The lip is fine, it was just bleeding a lot."
"Okay." Josie takes a deep breath in. "You wait for me here. I'll be right back."
Josie tries to walk away, but Hope frowns and tightens her grip on her, making it impossible for the Saltzman girl to walk away from her.
"Where are you going?"
"To my dad's office. I'm gonna fix this."
"No, you won't." Hope says, her voice suddenly a lot more harsh than before. "You're not getting involved in this mess."
"I already am!" Josie protests. "Let me-"
The door opens cutting off the brunette's sentence. The two girls quickly jump apart. Anxiety settles in the pit of Josie's stomach as she sees her father and Klaus walk into the room. She was so close to Hope, and the way they were touching each other left little to the imagination. She just hopes her father didn't see them before they got away from each other.
"Josie, what are you doing here?" Alaric asks with a frown.
The brunette finally breathes again. He didn't see a thing.
"I was here to thank Hope." Josie quickly replies, getting a glare from her girlfriend in the process.
Alaric crosses his arms. "What do you mean by that?"
"She was defending me. Or, well… my honor, I guess." Josie looks at Hope, and the Mikaelson girl shakes her head, but the brunette decides to go on. "Rafael was saying awful things about me and degrading my reputation. While I don't condone what Hope did, I'm thankful she stepped in. She didn't pick a fight, da- I mean, Dr. Saltzman."
Everyone in the room can see Alaric clench his jaw. "What was he saying?
"He said it would be easy to sleep with me and called me a bitch."
Josie's father runs a hand over his face as he sighs. "I'm sure he was just trying to impress his friends. It doesn't excuse the fact that Hope started a fight."
"Are you being serious right now?" Klaus practically growls. "That piece of shit says these things about your own daughter and that's your reaction? You just want to expel my daughter. I'm gonna involve my lawyers if I have to, Alaric." Klaus turns to his daughter. "Come on, love. We're going home." Then, he looks at Josie. "You deserve better than this, sweetie. Come over anytime."
"As if I'd ever let my daughter get anywhere near yours!" Alaric shouts as Klaus and Hope walk out. "He's completely out of his mind. He can't control his own daughter and he dares to say shit about how I treat mine." He mutters as he goes to step out of the infirmary.
All the anger that's been silently boiling inside of Josie is begging for her to let it out. So, just before her father can step out of the room, the brunette speaks up.
"I can't believe you care more about expelling Hope than you do about defending me." Josie says with venom in her voice, making her father quickly turn around to face her. "Rafael was making me sound like a girl who'd just sleep with whoever would ask. Not that there's any issue with girls having sex, but the way he said it was derogatory. He wanted to ruin my reputation to get his own to go up."
"I-" Alaric tries to say, but he's quickly cut off by his daughter.
"Hope didn't hesitate to jump in and defend me, and so did her father. You can't even bring yourself to say something about it. You were basically defending him. Boys will be boys, uh?" Josie darkly chuckles. "Klaus was right. I deserve better. The Mikaelsons would never let anyone talk about me that way."
"Don't be ridiculous. You don't even know the Mikaelsons." Alaric says with disdain written all over his face. "They're the worst kind of people."
"They're not!" Josie snaps. "They're the kindest people I've ever met. They've done more for me in the last year than you've done since I was born. Do you know who brought me to the hospital almost a year ago because of my peanut allergy? It was Hayley, Hope's mom." Josie takes a deep breath. "8 months ago, it was the anniversary of Jo's death. You didn't even mention it. Klaus, Hayley and Hope went to the cemetery with me. We had dinner together after that, and I never felt so cared for."
Alaric's jaw is almost hitting the floor, and he doesn't manage to say anything, but Josie's not done yet.
"Every member of that family knows me. I've spent more time at Hope's house in the last year than in ours. I bet you never even noticed. You know what's crazy? They don't only care about me because I'm dating their daughter, they just care because they are genuinely good people."
It takes a second or two for Josie's words to sink in for the both of them. The brunette's eyes grow a thousand times bigger as she realizes she just accidentally out herself to her father as well as reveal her secret relationship. Alaric's face is blank, nothing can tell Josie how her father feels about what he just heard. Panic quickly fills the Saltzman girl, so without thinking about it twice, she runs out of the room they are in. She doesn't go to her locker to pick up her backpack or even her raincoat. Josie runs straight outside of the school.
As soon as she steps out, her skin is hit by the cold rain pouring down from the clouds, but she can't seem to care. Josie fully intends to run as far away from the school as possible, but then she sees a very familiar car parked in front of the doors. Klaus is angrily speaking on the phone out of the car with an umbrella to cover himself, while Hope is sitting in the passenger seat. The auburn haired girl's head is leaning against the window, but by some kind of chance, she turns her head towards the school and spots the brunette. It doesn't even take a second before Hope bolts out of the car and runs to her girlfriend.
"Josie! What are you doing out here like this? No coat, no umbrella! You're gonna catch a-" Hope abruptly stops when she hears a sob coming out of the brunette. "Josie… You're crying." The Mikaelson girl gently pushes Josie's wet strands of hair away from her face. "Oh, baby. Come here."
Josie doesn't hesitate to throw herself in her girlfriend's arms. Hope's warmth, and her comforting arms immediately make the Saltzman girl feel a little better. Soothing words are whispered in her ear as the brunette balls the fabric of Hope's leather jacket in her fists.
It doesn't take long before Klaus notices them. The Mikaelson man immediately ends his call and makes his way to the two teenage girls.
"Hope, what happened?" He asks, worry filling his voice.
"I don't know. Dad, can we take her home?"
Klaus briefly looks at the door of the school before looking back at his daughter with his softest smile.
"Of course."
Josie lets herself be led to the car. Hope sits in the backseat with her, and brings her impossibly close. The brunette doesn't say a word during the whole ride to the Mikaelson household. She follows Hope and her father inside, and lets Hope take her upstairs. She stands in the middle of the Mikaelson girl's bedroom as Hope quickly gets Josie's favorite PJs out of her desk. The brunette barely reacts when her girlfriend asks if she can help her out of her clothes, but she does nod to give her consent. Hope's touch is more gentle than it ever was as she takes the wet pieces of clothing off the brunette's body. Josie shivers as she stands there almost naked.
"I-I forgot to go grab a towel." Hope blurts out. "Let me-"
Josie quickly grabs a hold of the fabric of her girlfriend's shirt, preventing her from going anywhere. Their eyes connect and they both freeze for a second.
"Don't leave me."
Josie's voice sounds quiet and broken, and all Hope can do is nod in answer. The Mikaelson girl reaches for the hand that's balling her shirt and slowly eases it open. When Josie's hold gets loose, Hope intertwines their fingers together. Using their joined hands, Hope makes Josie follow her to her desk. The auburn haired girl takes the first shirt her hands land on, she makes sure the fabric is soft enough, and then she starts using it to dry Josie's skin. It takes her about a minute or two to be done with that, and she does it without ever letting go of her girlfriend's hand. She quickly grabs a hair tie from her desk, and takes her time to pull Josie's hair in a loose bun.
When Hope is done taking care of Josie, and making sure she's dry and warm, the Mikaelson girl leads her girlfriend to the bed. The brunette slips under the covers and immediately lets out a sigh of relief when Hope's familiar scent fills her nose. Hope also gets under the covers, but she doesn't lay down. Instead, she sits next to Josie and gently pulls the brunette close. After a moment of them both trying to find the most comfortable position, Josie ends up with her head in Hope's lap as the Mikaelson girl gently plays with her hair and hums a song Josie wishes she'd recognize.
"I outed us." Josie says after a while, knowing full well she'd have to do it at one point anyway.
"What?" Hope says, confusion clear in her voice.
Josie turns so she can stare up at her girlfriend. "I accidentally told my father about our relationship. I'm so sorry, Hope. Now, he's just gonna hate you even more and it's all my fault-"
"Shh… Stop this. It's gonna be fine." Hope bends down and places a soft kiss on Josie's forehead. "We'll figure something out, Josie. I love you, and that's not gonna change. I don't care what the world throws at us. We'll get through it all. I know we will."
Josie's eyes shine with admiration for her girlfriend.
"If only he could see you the way I do." Josie whispers with wonder in her voice. "He couldn't hate you, because what I see is unconditional love and it's so beautiful."
Hope chuckles. "That's only for you and my family to see, my love."
Josie's smile is small, but genuine. "I kinda love that."
"Good." Hope smiles down at the brunette. "What do you wanna do now? Take a nap, watch a movie or maybe even get something to eat?"
Josie hums, thinking it over. "A nap sounds wonderful, but only if you cuddle me."
"Oh, your wish is my command, Miss Saltzman."