She's Mine

Chapter Fifty-Four

Hope POV-
Josie is 8 months pregnant now. Her stomach has gotten so round. She walks around most of the time with one hand resting on it. I get home from work and can already hear the music from in the house with my vamp hearing. "Some nerve you have to break up my lonely and tell me you want me." I'm Yours by Alessia Cara. Josie has been listening to this song on repeat lately.
I walk through the front door and go up the stairs to see Josie dancing around the babies' room while painting. I stand there for a second just watching a huge smile on my face. Josie turns around and sees me. "You just going to stand there or you going to join me?" She sticks her hand out towards me as I lean off the doorframe. I start spinning her around as she sings. "And I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared to fall again but if you promise me you'll catch me then it's okay."
We decided to paint the room yellow. Josie wants to wait to find out the genders of the babies. I pull Josie in close to me her back to my stomach. I wrap my arms around her placing one hand on her stomach. We are expecting the twins on January 7th so Josie is going to take online classes for this next semester so she can be home more. I will only be going to the school to help Alaric in dire emergencies so I can be here for Josie. The 7th is the day we were told but I've heard the story of Caroline giving birth to Josie and Lizzie early so we are making sure we are ready.
"Jo, did you come up with some potential names? This was the deadline we set." She turns around to face me. Her stomach pressed against me. "I did." Her face lights up. We each came up with one boy and one girl name since we weren't sure if we would have one girl and boy, two boys, or two girls. I grab her hand and start to lead her out of the room. "Let's go sit down on the couch downstairs."
I sit down first with my back pressed against the arm rest. Josie lays down between my legs pressed up against me on her back. We interlock both of our hands together and rest them on her stomach. This has been our daily routine for the past couple of months.  It is our daily time to be with each other away from all of the chaos of school and work. The only change has been how much the twins have grown.
Once we are settled, I ask again. "What names did you come up with?" Josie snuggles in closer to me. "I was thinking for a boy, Elijah James, for your uncle and my Dad's middle name. And for a girl, Andrea Elizabeth, for your Mom and Lizzie." I lean down and kiss Josie on her neck. "Those are great, Jo. We had similar thoughts. Boy, I was thinking Nicolas Kol, and for a girl, Rebecca Josette, for your bio Mom and my Aunt." Josie turned her head so she could look at me. "I love those names. Our kids are going to have that Mikaelson wild side for sure with these names." I drop my jaw acting shocked before responding. "Yeah, but hopefully, they'll find their Josie Saltzman to tame the wild." I start poking Josie's sides eliciting a squeal. "You, Mrs. Saltzman-Mikaelson, are a real romantic softie." I lean in to whisper in her ear. "Only for you, Mrs. Saltzman-Mikaelson."
Josie POV-
Hope and I crawl into bed that night and curl up in our usual spot. She wraps her arm around me and places it on my stomach so she can feel the babies. They have definitely been kicking more and more.
Hope and I are headed to New Orleans tomorrow to see Hope's family once more before the babies are born for Christmas. We both wake up to Hope's alarm going off at 6 am. We want to get a head start on our drive since it is 15 hours with no traffic. "Alright babe, do you have everything? Phone, chargers, clothes, your wife?" She makes this joke a lot since I have developed pregnancy brain. "Hmm, I think I have everything." She reaches over interlocking our hands.
We are about 4 hours away when the car starts to glow red from the inside. "What is that?" Hope's eyes are still on the road. I let go of her hand and slowly raise my shirt up to see my stomach glowing. "I think we have a couple of siphoners on our hands, babe."
Hope glances away from the road to look down. She places one hand on my stomach. "How are you feeling, Jo?" I can see concern flooding Hope's face. I know Mom talked to her about her pregnancy. "I feel fine right now but I think this is the first time they have done this. I'm okay. We will talk to Freya when we get to New Orleans, okay?" Hope nods her head and removes her hand from my stomach grabbing onto my hand again.
We pull into the driveway behind the Mikaelson mansion and are greeted by Freya and Keelin. It is perfect timing. My stomach begins to glow again as I get out of the car. Freya's face drops. I look over and Hope has a similar look. "When did this start?" Freya looks to me. "About four hours ago, we noticed it for the first time." Freya walks with me inside as Hope and Keelin grab our bags from the car.
"How are you feeling, Josie?" Freya helps me sit down on the couch. "I haven't noticed a change but they have only done it the one time four hours ago and when you saw just now." Hope walks in with Keelin. She vamps up the stairs and puts our bags away before sitting down next to me on the couch pulling me into her.
Hope's eyes flash gold for a brief second when she looks at me. "Hope, when was the last time you ran?" I look up at her. "A couple of days ago maybe." I raise one eyebrow at her waiting for a more accurate answer. Hope pauses, "2 weeks." She leans into me holding me tighter breathing softly into my neck.
Hope POV-
I lean into Josie not wanting to be away from her. I can tell I'm fighting my wolf off right now. "Freya, will this be able to wait until tomorrow?" Josie asks. Freya nods her head. "If it just started, we probably have a couple of days."
Josie turns her head to look at me. "You need to go run. Tonight. I will wait right here for you. Freya and Keelin will make sure I am okay." I really do not want to leave Josie but I can tell it is getting harder to control my wolf the longer I wait. I already have to fight the blood lust as a vampire; I don't need to be fighting off my wolf too. I nod my head at Josie. "Okay, babe." I give her a quick kiss before leaving the house to head to the bayou.
I finish running and get back to the house about 12:30 am. I walk in to see Josie fast asleep on the couch, a blanket lightly covering her. Freya walks out. "She just fell asleep a little while ago. She's been waiting for you. She refused to go upstairs without you. Her stomach glowed once more while you were gone." I carefully pick Josie up off the couch. "Thank you, Aunt Freya." I walk upstairs with Josie and place her in my bed.
I pull the covers up around her and quickly brush my teeth before joining her. Even subconsciously, she is drawn towards my body heat. She scoots over her back to me as I wrap my arm around her, my hand on her stomach. I can feel a little extra warmth as Josie's stomach glows again only for a couple of seconds. I lean forward whispering. "Alright, kids no hurting your Momma. You still have a little more time in there." I can hear their heartbeats pick up ever so slightly when I speak to them. They always do. This is going to happen faster than we want it to, I just know it. I settle in and eventually fall asleep to the sound of my wife's breathing.