She's Mine

Chapter Twenty-Six

Hope POV-

The next couple of weeks leading up to Christmas break went relatively smoothly. Josie and I have had a couple of episodes where one of us will freak out thinking the other is gone again when waking up from a dream. The actual events don't last long but it affects how we act around each other for the rest of the day, more paranoid of losing each other. This will go away with time but considering the Peryton week from hell just happened six weeks ago, it is still an appropriate reaction.

Josie's dad said that she can spend the Christmas break with me after talking it over with Caroline. We ran into him walking down the hallway about a week ago. "Hey girls, come to my office real quick?" I look over at Josie confused. She shrugs her shoulders, neither of us knows why he wants to talk. But our question gets answered quickly when we step into his office and see Caroline. Josie lets go of my hand and rushes over to hug her. "Hey Jo, how are you doing?" She squeezes Josie tightly. "I didn't know you were coming here! What are you doing here? I thought I wasn't going to see you until February." Josie is talking a mile a minute as Caroline waits patiently for a break in her line of questioning to answer.

"Well, your dad mentioned that you wanted to stay with Hope for the Christmas break and I wanted to meet her before I gave my opinion." That is when Caroline turns to me. Josie unlatches her arms from her mom and walks back over to me. "Mom, this is Hope," she pauses. "My girlfriend." I step forward to shake Caroline's hand. "Hi Hope," Caroline smiles at me. I can see why Dad liked her so much; she seems really nice. He wrote about her quite a bit in his old journals. It is weird feeling like I already know a lot about her yet I just met her.

Dad stands up from his desk. "Shall we go get lunch?" Josie and I nod our heads in agreement. "Great, Josie, can you go get your sister?" Oh god, I am about to be left alone with Josie's parents. "Sure Dad," Josie turns around and shuts the office door behind her. "Don't worry Hope, I'll be right back." Josie's words cut through my mind calming me.

Alaric POV-

I intentionally asked Josie to go get her sister so we could talk to Hope alone. I could tell Hope was nervous. She's a tribrid who is feared by most, but she is afraid of her girlfriend's parents. It is kind of comical. "So," Hope tries to alleviate the awkwardness in the room. I turn to her, "So, how are you and Josie doing? Are you both recovering from the incident?" Hope is being careful with her next words. "We are doing really well, every once in a while, one of us will freak out when we wake up from a dream but our relationship is going really well, we are happy." Caroline smiles hearing this. "I can tell you really care about her. You Mikaelsons and your fascination with this family. You remind me so much of your dad. I am sorry for your lose, Hope." Hope nods her head not saying much more. I pipe in, "Well, we think it would be great for you and Josie to spend Christmas break together. We know you two could use a break away from school. We already talked to your Aunt Freya, and she said that she is perfectly okay with Josie coming down with you."  I can't help but smile, "Thanks Dr. Saltzman." We sit in silence for a couple more seconds. Josie should be back any minute with Lizzie but Hope speaks up again, "Actually, I wanted to ask you guys something?"

Josie POV-

I walk back into the room with Lizzie. "Mom? Why are you here?" Lizzie is asking the same questions I was not thirty minutes ago. "Hi sweetie," Caroline gives Lizzie a big hug. "Well, we were thinking we would go out for lunch the five of us," Lizzie immediately starts nodding her head yes. "Okay, where to?" The five of us drive to Mystic Falls and eat lunch at the Mystic Grill. We return back to the school with ten minutes to spare. Lizzie and I hug our mom one last time before running to our next class.

Hope POV-

Fast forward to current day, Josie and I had our last midterm of the year today. Our flights leave tonight at seven. We are supposed to land at about 9:30 pm New Orleans time. "Are you all packed?" I ask Josie in my head. There is no response for a couple of seconds before I hear Josie respond. "Maybe." I walk into Josie's room to see her grabbing clothes out of her dresser. "Hey babe, how did your last final go?" Josie seems frazzled as she moves around her room. "Hey, Jo, come here," Josie stops what she is doing and walks over to sit next to me on her bed.

"What's going on in that head of yours?" Josie grabs my hand giving it a quick squeeze. "I might be a little nervous to meet the rest of your family." I lean forward and give her cheek a kiss. "They are going to love you, Jo, you already met Aunt Freya and she always asks about you when I call her. She asks about you more than me," That made Josie smile. "Really? She asks about me?" I pull her into a hug, "I'll be with you the entire time too. So, don't worry. Do you want us to have a code word you can say through our brain communication if you need a break?" Josie scrunches up her face trying to think of a word. She is so cute; I can't help but smile. I finally got her parents blessing after agreeing we wouldn't get married until she graduates high school. I already talked to Aunt Freya, and she is going to help me enact my plan while we are in New Orleans. Josie cuts through my train of thought. "Okay, the word is Penguin." I can't help but laugh. "Can I ask why Penguin?" I start to chuckle. "Why not, they are cute and cuddly." I stand up pulling Josie into another hug. "I love you," Josie leans forward and kisses me, "I love you, too."