Chapter 16: I'll Stand By You By: The Pretenders
"Baby?"
Opening her eyes now, fully, she could see that she was on the floor looking up at everyone. She tried to sit up, by was stopped by Hope from doing so.
"What happened?"
"You fainted Josie. Freya was saying that there was a way to stop The Merge and you just fainted."
Lizzie was on the opposite side of her from Hope and was looking at her twin with fear.
Josie again attempted to sit up, and again Hope try to stop her, however this time, she looked at her with a patient gaze, love shining through, and continued to sit up.
"What is the cure? How do we stop The Merge?"
Freya looked at the girl with a bit of sadness in her eyes. She gave a small shake of her head and walked over to her desk where the grimoire she was reading from was laid. Debating for just a moment, the older blond witch turned to the girl who was still sitting on the floor.
The decision was taken out of her hands when Lizzie spoke up.
"Josie, we don't have to do this now. You haven't slept all night and you barely ate anything at all. You just fainted. What you need now is to rest. The rest of this can wait. We have the answer, now we need you to be strong."
The brunette turned to her sister with steel in her eyes. She knew that she shouldn't be upset and that she was trying to be a good sister, but in this moment, when the answer was so close, there was nothing that she needed more than to hear what it was that would cure her and allow her the future that Hope had promised they would spend together.
"No, what I need is to find a cure to the curse that is trying to steal our futures! What I need is for people to stop treating me like a child! What I need…"
Before Josie could finish the next sentence, Hope had picked her up bridal style and carried her out of the room and into the courtyard. Once they reached the center, she placed Josie down on her feet and held on to her shoulders to make sure that she had her attention.
Hope could see the fire in the brown eyes that she loved so much and knew that Josie was fired up. She never really did like others telling her what her limits were, or what she could or couldn't do. However, she also knew that she was tired. Tired to her very core, and more than just physically.
"Baby, I know. I know that you are mad and hurt. I know that your parents kept something huge and important from you, and I know that they had no right to do it. I know that you are angry with them, and you feel all this rage that you just can't seem to let go of. And most of all, I know that you are angry at yourself for being angry with them."
All the fury seemed to drain from Josie all at once. Tears replaced the fire that had been there only moments ago.
"I just want to go back before I ever heard about The Merge. We were happy and starting the next chapter in our lives. I feel like they stole that from us. And logically, I know they did it to protect us and to give us a chance at a normal childhood, but all that did was allow us to believe in a lie. We aren't normal and we don't get a normal life."
Hope pulled the taller girl into a tight embrace. She gave fairy light kisses and rocked a little. She gave Josie the time that she needed to cry and let it out.
"Josie, I want you to listen to me and more than that, I want you to understand me, OK?"
Josie nodded her head, but as the tears were still coming, she didn't say anything.
"Nothing is going to happen to you or Lizzie. I won't allow it. You know what happens when thing get in my way. They move or I move them. This is no different. And you heard Aunt Freya, they have a solution."
Josie pulled back to look into the eyes that were as clear as the sky and saw nothing, but truth and love reflected in them.
"Now, because I know you, we will go back inside and hear Freya out so that you know what we have to do next, so that you can let your mind rest having the knowledge that you need. Then, you are going to eat something more than a handful of nut or a carrot stick, and then, you are going to take a nap."
The younger girl opened her mouth to protest and was silenced when Hope held up her hand. The older girl had a hard, but not angry look on her face. Josie knew this look; it was the one that Hope used when she wanted to stop an argument before it started. It had never failed the tribrid and this time was no different.
"We are going to get you answers first, I promise you that, but you fainted, and you scared the shit out of me Jo. So, we are going to go in there and listen and discuss and plan. I will let you work through everything, and we will get the ball rolling. After that though, you are going to have lunch with me, and you are going to have a nap."
Josie looked at Hope through her eyelashes, a hard task as she was taller, and gave a pout to her fiancé.
"Will you nap with me? You have had less sleep than me."
This brought a smile to the tribrid's face. She steps forward again and wrapped Josie in her arms.
"Of course I will. You know I would never make you sleep alone. I am wherever you want me."
The two girls stood there just holding each other for a long moment. They were together in their own world, and there was nothing more that they wanted than to stay there. But the real world always seems to interrupt them.
"Girls, I am sorry to disturb you, but there is currently an argument brewing in there about if we should leave you or bring you back in there. Surprisingly, or maybe not, it is Lizzie and Rebekah vs. Freya and Marcel."
Josie released a little giggle at the thought of Lizzie teaming up with Rebekah.
"Let me guess, Freya and Marcel are saying that we need a little space and time and Rebekah and Lizzie want to drag us in there so that we can finally have answers."
Keelin looked at the young woman in front of her with a hint of astonishment.
"Exactly. How did you know which wanted which?"
"Easy, Lizzie has zero patience."
The three women laughed at that for a moment. When the laughter died down, Keelin gave them a soft and comforting smile.
"I'll let them know that you'll be with us in a moment."
With that, she left the girls alone to prepare themselves for whatever came next.
"Just remember, it's you and me against the world. I will fight with you and beside you with everything I have. We all will. And when this is all said and done, and we have won, we will get married and spend the rest of forever together."
Josie couldn't help the smile that came to her face. She leaned in a gave Hope a sweet, delicate, lingering kiss. Saying everything with the touch of her lips that words failed to say.
"Let's go see what they have to say, then you owe me a nap with snuggles."
Taking the shorter girls hand with her own, giving a genteel squeeze, they walked back into the office to face the future together.
"I can't believe how complicated all of that was."
Lizzie was still pacing back and forth across the room that she was sharing with her twin and Hope. She had been saying the same thing for the last forty minutes.
"Lizzie, could you please stop pacing. Josie was supposed to be napping and you pacing, and ranting is distracting."
The blond huffed a sigh and flopped down on her own bed. She started up at the ceiling for a few minutes before siting up right again and looking at the redhead.
"How are you not freaking out about all of this. I mean really! This is some big shit!"
Josie physically shook with anxiety next to her. Hope pulled Josie into her side and started rubbing her back.
"This is a big deal and there is a lot of work that we have to do, but I am not afraid. This is going to keep you both safe, just like I promised. Now, I know that you want to talk about it, and that it is a lot to take in, but please, can we all just take a moment and rest. The next few weeks or months are going to be hectic."
The three girls shared a knowing look, one that spoke of the trials that they were about to face, and fear that they all refused to voice.
Josie was the first one to speak and break the silence.
"What are we going to do if your Aunt's plan doesn't work?"
Hope squeezed her and kissed the top of her head.
"It will work, it has to work."
"Yeah, but what if it doesn't?"
"Aunt Freya would have never told us anything if she weren't hundred percent sure about this, and new it could work. However, on the very slim chance this doesn't work, well, there is always option B. I mean Rebeka is right, that would technically stop The Merge too, at least for this generation."
Lizzie looked like she wanted to start another argument, but this time it was Josie that stop her.
"Lizzie, I'm exhausted. We haven't slept and with everything that has happened and been learned with in the last three days, I need to sleep. Please, can this wait until later?"
The blonde was never able to deny her twin, and she knew that Josie really did need the rest. So instead, she climbed into the bed next to her sister, and cuddled into her side.
"Yeah, you sleep, we can worry about all of this later."
The three curled into bed together. Josie sandwich between Hope and Lizzie, curled into the tribrid's warmth. Within minutes she was fast asleep. The other two girls shared a fond look and soon followed her into dreamland.
Two Weeks Later
It had been a lot of sleepless nights filled with a lot of research, but they finally had everything they had been searching for, well almost everything.
"No Hope! That is asking too much. I won't do it!"
The tribrid and the blonde twin had been going at it for over a week. They were driving everyone around them crazy with their near constant arguing.
The one thing stopping them from moving forward, in Hope's opinion, was the fact that Lizzie was so stubborn.
"Lizzie, it is literally going to save your life! You have two options, plan A, everyone alive and happy, or plan B, either you or your sister dead. Choose!"
Lizzie stopped her pacing and looked at the shorter girl like she had just slapped her. She couldn't believe that Hope had said that to her.
"Hope, that is too far." Rebekah stepped into the room, hearing what her niece had just said.
Hope sighed in frustration and rubbed her face with her hands. Looking up she saw the tears that were forming in the other girls eyes and also saw that she was trying to hold them at bay.
"Look Lizzie, I'm sorry. I know that was way out of line. I am just so tired, and we have been going at this for a week. I just want to settle it and move on."
"Yeah, and I want to be free. I want to break the curse as much if not more than you do, since it could kill ME, but I don't want to give up my freedom in the process. What's the point in being alive if I am not free to do what I want with my life?"
Hope turned to the girl shocked. She didn't realize that is what this was all about.
"Is that what you think will happen? That you will lose your freedom to do what you want with your life? That you will be trapped?"
"Yes. Why else do you think that I wanted to try something else?"
"Lizzie, this doesn't take away your freedom, it gives it to you. Yes, you will be bound, but no more so than you already are. You are bound to Josie because you are her sister and twin. You are bound to me as my friend and future sister-in-law. That doesn't mean that you aren't free. You aren't trapped in this roles and this will be no different."
The blond stood there staring at the older girl for a while before eventually sighing in defeat. She knew that she was making too much out of this to start with, and that this plan was the best one that they had.
"Fine, I'm holding you to that Mikaelson. Let's do this thing and get it over with so that we can all move on with our lives."
Hope reached out and hugged her future sister. She knew that this was hard for the blond twin. It was a major decision, and it wasn't something that she wanted her to make lightly. She knew that this was important and the best thing for everyone.
"We have everything ready to go. We just have to tell everyone that it is a go. The Merge will be over as of the end of the week. Aunt Freya said that there was just one last thing she needed, other than you, that is."
"What's that?"
"Don't know. Some sort of stone. Apparently, it has been lost for about 500 years, and we have to find it. But I figure with a house full of Mikaelson's, that stone will be here soon."
The smirk on Hope's face was one of knowing, which came from years of knowing that nothing stood in the way of her family when they wanted something. That stone was as good as gotten already.
"Well, let's just hope, no pun intended, that you're right. I want to get out to the sun, the beach, and my boyfriend before the Summer is completely over."
Hope shook her head, almost laughing. She knew that this was a front that Lizzie put up to hide her true feelings, and for once, the tribrid was going to let her do it. Just this once though.
"Well, I am going to go check in with Aunt Freya and see how everything is progressing. Can you go tell Josie that we finally worked it out and that I will be up to see her in a bit?"
"Sure. See ya later, sis."
The redhead smiled at the fond nickname. Being Lizzie's sister, well, that just meant that the rest of the world better watch out. The two of them as friends was scary enough.
Less than a half hour later, Hope was walking up the stairs to check in on her fiancé. As she stepped up to the door, she could hear whispering happen inside, she couldn't make out what they said, but she could tell that it was Lizzie and Josie. Not wanting to eavesdrop, Hope knocked on the door and then stepped inside.
"Hey, you didn't have to knock. This is your room too."
Josie smiled up at Hope from her position on the bed. She then patted the free spot next to her.
Smiling broadly, the older girl walked over and sat down next to her fiancé, she leaned in to give her love a chaste kiss.
"I know, but I could hear you two whispering, and I didn't want to just barge in and interrupt a private conversation."
Lizzie looked up at her friend and smiled at the kindness of the act. Knowing full well, that Hope could have listen in if she had wanted to but respected them enough not to.
"That's ok, it wasn't a secret conversation, more of just something that we didn't need to scream about. We were talking about the next phase and what that means we have to do next."
The tribrid nodded, knowing that this next step was going to be a difficult one for the twins. If she were being completely honest, it was going to be difficult for her as well.
"Well, I just spoke with Freya, and she is making the call for you, that way you don't have to. All we have to do now, is show up for dinner on Friday, and we will have one last run through of everything. Then Saturday night, we will be ready to go. After that, we have our whole lives to look forward to."
The twins still looked nervous and unsure about what they were preparing for, it was a really big deal. After this, nothing was ever going to be the same again, and no matter how much they knew that this was going to be for the best, they were worried about what this was going to mean for the future. How it would affect them, and, in all honesty, they worried about what it would mean if it didn't work. Everyone was so confident that this was the cure that they needed, but their parents had searched for years. How was it that in such a short time, Freya found the answer to something that no one else could.
Hope, who knew what the twins were thinking, she just didn't know how to assure them that everything would work out for the best. So, since she couldn't, she did the only thing she could. Crawling onto the bed, getting between the sisters, and wrapping them both in a hug, she squeezed them tight.
"I know this is hard, and I wish more than anything that I could do this for you or take away the curse in a much easier way, but I can't. What I can do is swear to you that I will be by your sides the whole time. You will never be alone."
The three girls hugged for a while longer, just taking the comfort they could from each other.
"Ok, so I say that we take these next few days, and we spend it forgetting about The Merge, and the planning, and everything else that is stressful, and we do something fun."
"What do you have in mind babe?"
"Well, I was thinking that we could, I don't know, start planning our wedding."
The lights in Lizzie's eyes shown so bright at the suggestion that Hope wished she has sunglasses. Before the blonde could do anything though, Josie pounced on Hope pinning her to the bed with her lips.
"Eww, gross you two, I'm right here!"
Chuckling, the two pulled apart and smiled at each other. This is what they needed, time to stop worrying, and to just be young and in love.
Friday
It had been a wonderful couple of days for the girls. Along with Rebekah and Freya, they had been planning the for the wedding. Rebekah had promised the best designs for dresses and Freya already had a few places eagerly agreeing to be the venue.
All in all, it had been a wonderful week, and of course, like all good things, it had to end.
As the family was sitting in the courtyard after breakfast, chatting about nothing to important, there came a knock on the door.
"I'll get it."
Josie ran over to open the door and standing before her, was something that brought all the happiness and ease of the last few days crashing down.
"Hello sweetheart."
"Aunt Bonnie, mom, dad."
T.B.C.