Chapter 11-Ice Cream by Sarah McLachlan

The rest of the time that the girls spent in New Orleans was amazing. There was something different each day as Hope made sure of that. She didn't want them to get bored or for Josie to think that New Orleans didn't have a lot to offer. She wanted Josie to get the feel for the real city and not just the tourist attractions.

Since a lot of these places required a car ride, Freya had mixed Josie up a cure for her motion sickness. It was amazing, Josie was able to ride in the car for hours without getting sick. One dose about ten minutes before traveling and it would last for twelve hours. Since it worked so well, Freya promised to write the formula down for her.

They spent the entire third day wondering around the Art Museum. Hope showed Josie all of her favorite pieces and explained to her why they were her favorites. She showed her which ones her mother had liked. She even pointed out which of her father's paintings where on loan there. Hope got lost in the art and in her memories. When tears came to her eyes, Josie slipped her hand down the shorter girls arm, twining their fingers together. Letting her know that she was there and that she would hold her through her emotional storm.

"I've got you baby. I'm here."

They spent another hour just walking around, admiring the art. Josie held Hope the whole time, never once letting her go.

After that, Hope took Josie out to dinner, and they wondered the streets enjoying the music and the festivities. Getting swept away in one of the parades that was marching down the street.

On the fourth day, Hope took Josie to the Aquarium and the Zoo. Josie loved animals and was like a kid in a candy store running around from one exhibit to the next.

"I love seeing all of the animals, but it makes me sad that they are caged and aren't able to roam free."

"I know baby, but most of the animals were injured when they were brought in. They wouldn't survive in the wild. Their babies are breed in captivity. I do think that all Zoos should have programs to release the babies into the wild though."

After walking all day, the two were tired and just wanted to relax. They picked up some food on the way back to the compound and went to Hope's room and played some more on Final Fantasy 8. Josie had quickly become addicted to the game and was spending just as much time as Hope with the controller in her hand.

The girls only had two more days in New Orleans, and while everyone was sad, they had amazing memories from this visit. Josie would absolutely like to come back someday. There was so much to this town. She didn't think that she would truly be able to see everything in a whole lifetime.

Today's active, was the promised homemade beignets. Josie had been waiting for this the entire trip. She wanted to see Hope in and apron. This was sure to be her favorite part of the whole vacation. If only just because she got to see her girl being all domestic.

"Ok, so Auntie Bex said that her and Freya made sure that I had everything that I needed to make the beignets. We are ready to start the baking, but first, you should put this on."

Hope handed her an apron of her own. It was bright yellow and had a Kola Bear on the front, with the words, 'Hug the Cook' written in black.

"Hope! This is so cute!"

"Yeah, I saw it at the Zoo gift shop and couldn't resist. It made me think of you. You are my own personal Kola."

As if to prove her point, Josie ran over and jumped into her girl's arms wrapping her arms and legs around her holding her close. She leaned in and gave her what was supposed to be a chaste kiss.

As the girls were increasingly learning this week, chaste isn't something that lasted long when the two were alone. In fact, every member of the Mikaelson family has walked in on the two making out at least once.

The first and so far, only time that Kol walked in on them, he screamed like a girl. Davina came running, hands raised and a spell on her lips, thinking that he was being attacked. After assuring her that there was not an attack, Hope told her Aunt what happened. The older witch laughed so hard that she fell to the ground.

According to Kol, "There are just something that one should never see of their innocent sweet niece and her equally innocent and sweet girlfriend.

"I think I may finally need that therapy you all kept badgering me about."

It had been five days and she was still picking on her husband. Since then, he made sure to announce his presence before entering any room that they might be in. He waited to see if there was any noise or if someone told him it was safe to enter.

So, it was no surprise, that as Davina and Keelin entered the kitchen, and found the two pressed against a counter, in yet another heated make out session. They waited a moment to see if the girls would acknowledge that they were in the room. They didn't.

"Do you remember being that young D?"

"Yeah, I have to say, I miss it some days. Though, having my own house so that I don't traumatize helpless uncles is nice."

Hope, hearing her aunts, pulled back but didn't release Josie from her hold. Turning to glare at the two intruders for yet another interruption.

"Well, technically, this is my house. My name is on the deed. I also own three others in the city limits and two just outside the city. Not to mention the about thousand other houses, compounds, castles, and random others that dad, mom, and Uncle Elijah left me. So, if anything, you are in my house so hush."

"Look at all that sass!"

Hope turned to her aunts and stuck her tongue out.

Josie laughed at the three. Of all of Hope's aunts, Keelin and Davina were the two that brought out the 'fun' in Hope the most. Josie thought it was because they were the ones that had similar childhoods. Davina being only sixteen when Hope was born. She was a powerful witch that others thought that they could control. They wanted to make her submit to their wills. She had proved them all wrong and taught them that she would submit to no one. However, in doing so, she lost a lot of her own childhood.

Keelin spent so much time running and hiding from what she really was. She knew what it was to be ashamed of what was in you, of who you were. She knew what it was like to hide and to keep a secret from everyone. To keep everyone at arm's length to protect not only herself, but those around her. It took finding love to help her stop running.

Both of these amazing women wanted Hope safe and were always there to protect her, however, they also wanted to let her be the teenager that she was. To allow her to be who she was.

"Alright you three, don't make me call Freya in here to referee."

"Ah Hope, your girlfriend is no fun!"

"I disagree. I happen to think that she is a lot of fun."

"Hey that is my wife you are talking about. She will definitely take my side."

Just then, Keelin felt a set of arms wrap around her waist and pull her in close for a hug.

"Sorry hon, but whatever it is, with it being you three, I am agreeing with Josie."

"Traitor!"

Josie laughed so hard that she lost her grip on Hope and would have fallen, if the tribrid hadn't had such a tight grip on her. Slowly lowering the witch to the ground, Hope gave her one last kiss on the cheek before putting on her own plain black apron.

"Hey, why don't you have a cute 'Kiss the Cook' apron?"

Rebekah came in the room laughing at the question. This was something that had been pointed out to the teen before. That there were more fun aprons that she could wear.

"Real chefs where black. It doesn't stain."

"Then how come I don't get a black one?"

"One, because we have seen you in a kitchen Jo. You burnt water."

"That was not my fault! You distracted me!"

Kol walked into the kitchen just then and covered his ears quickly.

"Please, for the love of your Uncle, please don't say more about that!"

All the women laughed at him, but they understood. No one needed to hear about their niece's love life in greater details. They liked to tease the two, but there were lines that shouldn't be crossed and information that didn't need to be known.

"On that note, the second reason is that you are adorable, and I knew that you would like that apron better than a plain black one. You are going to be my little helper and that apron is enough to keep the flour off your clothes. Since we all know that no one else is going to help until it is time to eat."

"Hey, in fairness, Freya and I did buy the ingredients."

"And by that she means that they called the store and told them what they wanted to make and had everything delivered."

Four women all at once turned to smack Kol for his comment.

"Just for that you are on clean up."

Kol looked at his wife like she had betrayed him.

"Well, it appears that everyone is going to turn on each other today. If that is the case, I declare it game night. Once Hope is done with the beignets, we are going old school board game night."

There were choruses of agreement heard throughout.

"Fine, but only if Josie is on my team."

"Nope, couples on opposite sides."

"Then I'm out."

"Aww, but honey, I want to play."

"I know baby, but they are vicious and mean. I refuse to play against you."

"They are too freaking cute. Fine, you two can be a team. I refuse to split up that level of sweetness. No matter how many cavities I get from them."

Hope just smirked, knowing that she would get her way. There was no possible way that she was going to let Josie go up against any of her family without her for protection. The Mikaelson Clan was not known for taking it easy. Not even on each other and not even for board games.

"The last time that we played board games, Uncle Kol barely made it out without a stake in his chest."

Josie looked shocked at that. She knew that the Mikaelsons had a reputation for violence, but they had been sweet and inclusive this whole vacation. Sure, they poked, but she figured that was a family trait.

"In my defense, he was cheating."

"Yeah, so were you Rebekah. We all were. It's kind of how we play."

"Yes, but you are supposed to be discreate about it. He literally reached up his sleeve because he lost the card in there."

Hope just shook her head and her family and raised an eyebrow at Josie as if to say 'See, this is exactly why you are on my team.'

"Ok, if you aren't cooking or helping, get out of the kitchen."

Everyone but Josie got up and left. They all knew how Hope was in the kitchen. No one wanted to be near her when she was cooking.

"Well they cleared out quickly. What have I signed up for here?"

Hope smiled and kissed Josie on the cheek and moved herself over to her workstation.

"Ok, so we are going to do this the easy way. I will do the cooking; you can hand me things. Are you ok with that?"

With no other warning than the smirk on her face, Josie lifts the bag of flour and dumps it on to Hope's head.

Hope stood there, sputtering flour out of her mouth as the brunette laughed so hard that she almost fell over. The shorter girl was covered head to toe in flour to the point that she looked like she was a ghost.

"Think that is funny, do you?"

"Absolutely! Because it is!"

Hope ran over and picked Josie up spinning her around and hugging her close shaking the flour from herself until it also covered Josie. The two just laughed until Josie leaned in to whisper in Hope's ear.

"I may not be able to cook, but I can bake."

"Oh, I know, you made me those cookies before. Those ones after you almost set my pants on fire when I surprised you."

"Well, you know, I can light a fire in your pants, no magic required."

Hope gulped and nearly tackled Josie to the ground in that moment. The only thing that saved, or punished, depending on how you look at it, was that Keelin came to see what the noise was.

"What are you two doing in here?"

Turning to look at her aunt, Hope waved her hand and with a silently muttered spell, the flour was cleaned up and everything set to right.

"Nothing, small mishap with the flour that's all."

The older woman just shook her head and left without saying anything. Because really, what were you going to say to two goofy in love teenagers?

"Ok, we really should get baking. After that, someone will come in "needing" something every ten minutes or so to make sure that we are behaving ourselves."

"That's no fair. How am I supposed to do anything but help you bake in ten minutes?"

Hope slid her hand up Josie's side, resting it just below her where she would start to skim her breast, and leaned in to whisper in her ear.

"There are a lot of things that I can start in ten minutes."

"Yes, start, but not finish."

"True, so maybe we should just bake."

"Yes. Bake now, other things later."

The two worked seamlessly together as if it was choreographed. It was as if they were two people sharing one mind, they were so in sync with one another. They seemed to always know exactly where the other was and what was needed in that moment.

When they were finished and the beignets were made and ready to eat, they finally looked up to see that they had gathered and audience. It appeared that everyone had at some point come back into the kitchen and had been watching them.

"What are you all looking at?"

"I have never seen two people who are able to do what you just did. I mean, I know people that have been married for years who have to talk more than that and don't move half as in sync."

The girls just looked at each other and shrugged. This was nothing new for them. They have been doing this for as long as they could remember. Sometimes they would just sync up and be able to move as one.

"Well, everything is ready. Everyone come, eat beignets and then we can go play."

Hope didn't want to talk about it, and she knew that Josie would get shy if they pressed the point. This was just something that they did. In her mind, there was no reason to make a big deal of it.

Everyone gathered around and started to eat the pastries the girls had made. There were moans of appreciation heard around the room.

"Hope, you have out done yourself. These are the best beignets you have ever made."

"It's all because of Josie. I finally had the help of someone who, while she can't cook, she can bake."

Josie glared at her girlfriend.

"Do you want to look like Casper again?"

"No dear."

Everyone laughed at the girls and how they were so playful together.

Soon the pastries were done, and the group moved to the living room to start their game night. Freya had pulled out every game that was in the compound.

"So, we have Clue, Monopoly, Life, and some random card games. What do we want to play?"

"Not Monopoly!"

There were cries heard around the room both agreeing and arguing. Everyone had an opinion about it. None so loud as Hope herself who had voiced the objection. She hated that game with a passion. That was not a game that her family had ever been able to play without actual bloodshed.

Josie leaned over in Hope's ear from where she was sat on her lap. She was trying to speak as softly as she could. She didn't want to draw attention to herself.

"Why can't we play? I know that it's a competitive game, but Lizzie and I love it."

"See Hope! Even Josie wants to play!"

Hope was mulling over her options at this point. If Josie wanted to play, she wanted to give in. She never could deny Josie anything. However, she knew her family. They were ruthless and she wasn't joking when she thought back on all the bloodshed this game had caused.

"Fine, but there will be rules this time."

All the adults in the room looked at her and waited to hear what she had to say. Hope knew that her family never really meant anything by the vicious acts during the game, and they would shake it all off the next day, but she didn't want them to traumatize Josie.

"Ok, Rule one, any cheating, you lose your highest value property to the person you cheated or if you cheated everyone, you go to jail for three turns. Rule two, if you shed blood and you are kicked out of the game completely."

Everyone agreed to the rules and the game was set up and everyone paired off into their teams to prepare to play. Josie was excited because no one had taken the little Scottie dog piece and apparently it was her favorite.

"What, he is so cute! I would pick the wolf if they had it, but they don't."

Hope smiled and muttered a spell that Josie couldn't hear, and the Scottie turned into a wolf that looked a lot like Hope in wolf form.

Josie squealed and bounced up and down in Hope's lap and then threw her arms around her neck and kissed her soundly.

"Thank you, baby, she is so cute!"

"What happened to no cheating?"

"Changing the piece isn't cheating. It's superficial not going to change the outcome of the game."

Each team rolls one of the dice so that they could determine the order of play. Josie managed to role a six which means that her and Hope went first. They decided that Josie would roll the dice first since she was the was the one that rolled the winning number.

Everything was going fine for a while. It seemed that everyone was following both the rules of the game, and the rules that Hope had given. It was nice playing a game when no one was cheating or trying to stake another member. It lasted for all of an hour.

Surprisingly, the first one out was Davina. It was their turn and they needed to roll anything but another double. One more and they would go to jail. Kol had been rolling the doubles so Davina said that he should let her roll. He refused saying that it wouldn't really make a difference. He of course, rolled doubles and that sent them to jail which lost them the chance to finally get the last property they needed to secure their monopoly on the corner of the board surrounding Go.

"I told you to let me roll!"

Davina then turned to her husband and stabbed him in the leg with a pencil. Kol looked at her like she had lost her mind. He pulled the pencil out and waved it at her.

"That's it. Kol and Davina are out."

"What? Why?"

"Davina stabbed you. Rules say that you are out of the game."

"But we are partners, that shouldn't count."

"Never said it had to be the opposite teams. You're out. All their property is cleared and goes back to the bank. It is now up for purchase."

Kol smirked at his wife. As much as he hated to lose, he loved the fact that it was her fault this time. Davina gave him a look that could have melted him where he stood, and he was smart enough to look worried and to shut up.

Rebekah was the next out as she tried to throw the dice and distract everyone from her slipping extra houses onto her properties. Unfortunately for her, Hope counted every round.

"And Bex is out. If you are going to try to be sneaky, you should, your know, be sneaky."

"You are a little brat you know that?"

"Love you too!"

The game was now Freya and Keelin vs Hope and Josie. Thanks to the fact that Josie was an amazing strategist, the girls were at an advantage. While everyone else was trying to buy the higher properties and putting hotels on them, Josie and Hope purchased two whole sides of the board and now had all the rail roads and the utility companies.

Keelin saw what they were doing and took her chance to purchase any properties that weren't already owned by the girls to stop them from sweeping the board. Sadly, it was too little to late.

It was Josie's turn to roll and if she rolled a six, they would land on free parking and there would be no stopping them. If they rolled a seven or higher, they would run the risk of landing on the hotel lined properties waiting for them.

As was the rule for the witches, Josie was not allowed to bring the dice near her lips and her head had to be facing another witch, so that they could verify that no spells were being cast. Shaking the dice and looking directly at Freya, Josie released them to roll.

"Yes! A six! Free parking! You are amazing baby!"

"How does she always do that? I watch her each time and she doesn't do any spells, yet she always gets the number that she wants."

"There has to be a trick to it. There is no one that lucky."

"Oh, I'm not lucky, I'm fortunate, and it isn't a spell. Well at least not one of mine."

"Is Hope casting it? After all that talk of not cheating!"

"It isn't me."

"Then how is it possible that you get the number that you want each time that you roll?"

"Oh, that is easy, Kol swapped out the dice three rounds in. These dice bring fortune to their owner."

"But I own them."

"Yes, you do, however, when you were out of money and sold me your roll, they considered that you sold them to me."

"So, you have been cheating this whole time?"

"No, Kol cheated. I just took advantage of information and built it into my strategy."

All eyes in the room turned to the brunette. Every face had varying degrees of awe etched on them. From Kol who looked like he was proud that she found a loophole, to Freya who looked like she was impressed with the fact that she could argue logically out of being called a cheater.

From behind her, Hope pulled her in close and hugged her tightly. She was so amazed by how smart her girl was.

"My girl is so smart!"

"Game over. We forfeit. There is no winning against that and technically Josie is right. She didn't cheat, Kol did, so game over."

"Let's have ice cream sundaes. The winners deserve a treat."

The group all agreed. Ice cream sounded like a good way to end the day.

As Rebekah walked by the girls she stopped and looked at them curled together on the chair. Hope hugging Josie from behind and Josie smiling at the fact that she had won the game.

"You, my dear, are a sneaky little thing. Welcome to the family. You make the perfect mate for our littlest wolf here."

Both girls sputtered in response not knowing exactly what to say. Bex laughed and walked away as the two sat there, beet red not being able to for words.

Once they were alone, Josie turned her face to meet Hope's. Their eyes connected and locked. The universe was held in their gaze. Nothing and no one else mattered in that moment. They were both thinking the same thing. This was their forever and epic love. This was the love that people fought wars for and search lifetime after lifetime to find.

Hope opened her mouth to say the words that she had been trying to tell her girl for months now.

"Are you two coming? Your ice cream is going to melt."

Leaning in, the brunette gave the older girl a kiss to the cheek before whispering next to her ear.

"We should go get that ice cream. Apparently, it will melt if we don't."

"Don't care. You're better than ice cream. You are better than everything in this world."

Josie's face broke into a mega watt smile and she crashed her lips into Hope's. This kiss was different than the ones before it. While it was loving, and had heat to it, there was something else. It spoke the words that the girls couldn't say to each other yet.

"You're better that anything in the world Hope."

As the girls were lost in each other, the rest of the family was gathered watching them from the doorway. Slipping back into the kitchen, all with matching smiles, they shared a silent conversation.

Their girl had finally found happiness. After everything horrible in her life, Hope now had someone to make her smile. Someone that could be there for her and that Hope would allow herself to open for. That is all they ever wanted for their girl.

Come Heaven or Hell, they would do everything to protect this love and both of these girls.

T.B.C.