tell me pretty lies: hope mikaelson

part 9

The sad waiting room of the medical center right next door to Mystic Falls Hospital was pretty empty for a Friday afternoon. My leg bounced up and down waiting for the nurse to call me back for my annual pulmonologist checkup.

Doctor check ups were always nerve wracking. Even if I was the healthiest person alive, there was always a small possibility that something was wrong. I felt my phone buzz softly in my pocket, pulling it out and seeing the familiar name light up on my phone: Hope Andrea Marsh-.

Hey

I smiled at her simple words, just happy to hear from her: Hey! You okay?

I don't know...I'm really not feeling the best right now.

You and me both Hope, you and me both. This pit in my stomach, making me feel like this checkup was not going to go well: Well, I'm at my doctor's appointment right now, but I have an idea for afterwards, if you're feeling up for it.

It wasn't even a few seconds later when her answer blared onto my screen: I'm in.

"Adelyn?" the nurse poked her head out of the back room.

I looked up, rubbing my sweaty palms onto my ripped jeans. My mom rubbed my back soothingly as we walked in step towards the back room. The nurse ran the routine tests, a chest x-ray, blood drawn, the whole nine.

Then there was more waiting. As we waited for the test results to come back and the doctor to give us the news. My usual doctor walked in, a smile on his face, and just that sight allowed me to let out a breath of relief.

"How's my favorite patient?" Dr. Borden sat on his little wheely stool.

"Nervous," I confessed, scratching the back of my neck.

He laughed, squeezing my shoulder gently, "There's no need to be. Everything's perfect! Your lungs x-ray showed no sign of them failing or damaged. Your blood work showed nothing abnormal. As long as you continue to take care of your lungs you'll be okay,"

"Even though we're approaching five years they're still okay?" I asked and he nodded.

"Obviously we're going to be keeping a good eye on them every couple months, but right now kiddo you're in perfect shape!" I finally let out a bigger breath of relief, smiling widely, "Now get out of here! Go live your life!"

An hour later, I waited for Hope outside the sliding doors of the hospital entrance. I wrap Hope in a huge hug as soon as I see her. Hope's shorter figure leaned into my body as I savored the warmth of her embrace.

"How are you doing?" I asked her, not letting her go even for a second.

She shrugs, "Better now that I'm with you," Her chin rested on my chest as she looked up at me. I smiled at her softly, leaning down to kiss her ever so gently, "So what's your big plan?"

"When I tend to get upset or have a rough day, I like to put it into something positive. Do something to distract myself," I told her, "I usually walk around and take random photos, but since your passion is painting I decided that we do something like that,"

A smile breaks out onto her face as I lead her up to the empty closed cafeteria. Berkeley, Hudson, Avery, the Machado twins, and the Saltzman twins look up as we walk in. There were art easels with canvases and paint. A projector shined onto the blank wall, showing a Bob Ross tutorial ready to be played.

"You did this for me?" she asked, squeezing my hand.

I nodded, "I did. I had to make a few calls to make it happen, but yeah,"