Disclaimer: I do not own TheVampireDiaries, or TheOriginals, otherwise there would be certain characters that lived on.
Hello, my lovely readers. This is a requested fic for an Anon on Tumblr. Just a little friendly comfort for Lizzie from Jed. On with the show…
Pep Talk:
Nothing could hold Lizzie to the floor beneath her feet, not when the storm ripped and whirled through her mind. Josie. Jo. Her twin. The only person who she could not live without, would not be able to live in the world without and the person who just slammed a figurative door in Lizzie's face. The burn of her sister's fury banging into Lizzie like a real plank of wood knocking into her.
"Breathe, stay calm," Lizzie tried to self-coach herself like her mother used to do for her and her father and all the freakin' therapists in between with their Western medicine and non-Western medicine and the talk, talk, talk.
As soon as she was through the door her mind sent items flying, a picture of Lizzie and Josie went sailing to smash to bits on the floor which almost seemed fitting, given the state of their union. But Lizzie could not give into the storm. She had to stay calm. She had to…
"No, no! Stay calm!" Lizzie cried to herself, feeling panic taking over the rage she felt seconds ago and she went to grab her bowl. Some useful meditation was in order.
As soon as her hands were on the bowl it cracked down the side like her relationship with Josie and that was it. All of her self-control expired and Lizzie knew she was about to have a full-out meltdown.
The door flew open and Jed came stalking in. "Lizzie? Hey, Liz!" His dark eyes bore into a shaking Lizzie who could feel a tremor in the room. The wolf didn't seemed worried about the room as he took purposeful steps toward Lizzie, taking hold of her upper arms and holding on tight. "Hey, look at me, Elizabeth."
"Jo…" Lizzie shook her head. "I need to find out about this thing, Jed." Even in her over-wrought state Lizzie knew she couldn't tell Jed everything.
"Lizzie, you're going to be okay. Okay?" Jed said, lifting one hand to place it on the side of her head.
Nodding, Lizzie took a deep breath. Jed was so not the first or the thousandth person she would come to when she was in one of her crisis modes. However, he seemed to be helping her take a moment.
"Look at me, Lizzie," Jed said calmly.
Opening her eyes, Lizzie nodded and stared into Jed's dark eyes. He offered her a smile. "You okay?"
Stilling, Lizzie nodded. "Yeah. I think so."
"You want to tell me what's going on with you and Josie?" Jed asked, leading Lizzie over to her bed and pulling her down to sit.
Lizzie let out a laugh. "We're having an argument."
"I can see that," Jed glanced at the broken picture frame on the floor. "You know, I am capable of listening to people's problems. I was once the leader of a wolf pack. And, man, do those guys have issues."
Lizzie began to laugh even harder until tears pooled in her eyes. "This is a secret. So, you can't tell anyone. Not even your pack."
Jed nodded.
"There's some kind of Merge thing that Josie is interested in. And I tried to help her find out what it meant. To make up for Penelope leaving—which Jo blames me for. And it's not my fault." Pausing, Lizzie frowned, that probably was not entirely true. "Not all my fault. I thought that's what Jo was angry at me about. But now I think she doesn't want to be my sister and…" Lizzie felt her world beginning to become untethered again and dug her fingernails into her comforter.
"Lizzie." Jed waited until Lizzie met his eyes. "I was a real dick when I led my pack. That's probably part of why I am no longer the head of it..." Now, it was Jed's turn to pause and become thoughtful. "I was telling Rafael earlier, sometimes, to be a better leader, you have to put aside your pride. Because this isn't about you. This is about Jo. Be her support. Or let her have her space. Whatever she needs. Because she's your pack. And a pack sticks together."
"Yeah?" Lizzie dried her eyes. "Thanks for the talk, Jed."
"No problem." Jed got his feet. "If you need me, I'm around, probably trying to help people and stop being known as a Jackass."
Lizzie began to laugh. "You weren't supposed to know that."
Jed shrugged. "I listen more than I look like I do."
"Bye." Lizzie watched Jed leave the room and she felt a little better. Maybe she really did need to back off. Didn't Jo say she needed to be on her own? For now. And Lizzie would find things to do—maybe help Jed save people from themselves—her mom would be proud of her. Getting to her feet, Lizzie decided to go find someone to help and wait for Jo to become ready to talk. Yup. She felt better already.
The End
Thank you for reading, faving, following and reviewing.
J