Damage Control

Chapter Ten

Josie could not believe her eyes. Her mother who had been away from the school for almost three years, now sat at her father's desk as the four of them sat on the other side. She had not heard from her mother in awhile and she never thought she would see her back at the school again, or at least not this soon.

"When did you get here?" Josie asked nervously, thinking that whatever had been going on recently was most likely the reason for her mother's return.

Lizzie was looking very excited despite the situation. "Better question is what did you bring back with you." It was a pretty bold question considering the look on their mother's face.

She gently placed her elbows on the desk and laced her fingers. "I think the question is girls, what did you do to get sent to the Headmaster's office?" She sounded very serious. Their father could be strict but compared to their mother, he looked like a breeze.

Alyssa seemed to remember this because she looked pleased by the arrival of Josie and Lizzie's mom. "Well Mrs. Salvatore," their mother kept both her last names but Forbes Salvatore is a bit hard for children to say so she shortened it to the school's name. "After your precious Josset murdered me, you can say I hold a bit of resentment towards her." Josie's mom gave her a sympathetic look, clearly her father told her everything already. "And these two," she pointed to Hope and Lizzie. "Are protecting her when she deserves some sort of punishment."

Seemingly already annoyed with Alyssa, Josie's mom sighed. "Thank you Alyssa, you may go back to class."

Alyssa looked proud of herself, giving pointed glares at the three remaining students, Josie was surprised she didn't stick her tongue out. As soon as Alyssa left Hope sat up straighter. "Mrs. Salvatore, I know Dr. Saltzman probably informed you about everything, Josie hasn't been herself, while Alyssa has a reason to be angry, she is trying to turn the whole school against Josie over a mistake."

Josie's mom held up a hand to stop her. "Thank you Hope, but all of you lashing out in class isn't going to make things better." Hope visibly shrunk back. "I appreciate you two looking out for Josie." A smile to Josie. "Why don't you two go back to your rooms for now and we can talk later?" She said to Hope and Lizzie, the latter of which opened her mouth to argue. "We can talk in an hour Lizzie." Her mouth said with a warming tone.

Lizzie sighed but got up from her chair, Hope waved to the older woman, she squeezed Josie's arm in reassurance on her way out the door, Lizzie on her heels not looking happy about it.

Once they left, Josie turned back to her mother, her headmaster face softened into a mother's face. "Why don't you tell me how you are feeling?"

Within an hour Josie found herself on a chair in her father's office, in her mother's arms sobbing very hard. The one thing Josie could count on from her mother was warm hugs and an ear she could tell anything to, knowing her mother would make her feel better, even if she was never really going to feel better about any of this. Her mother rubbed her arms. "Seems like you have had a hell of a few months." There was a ghost of a smile on her mouth, though it was filled with sympathy. "We are going to have to find a way to calm Alyssa Chang."

Josie snorted. "Fat chance, last time dad pissed her off we ended up in a prison world with our psychotic uncle." Josie let out a long breath. "I don't know what I am going to do mom, if Hope hadn't done what she did... I could have killed a lot more than Alyssa Chang. I was just lucky that dad made that deal with the Necromancer."

Her mother's lips formed into a thin line, like she did not love the deal he did, but she knew her mom would make the same decision in his shoes. "We all make mistakes Josie, I know I have made many in my life, more than many..." She trailed off. "We will fix things but it will take a lot of work, and a lot of time." She pulled out of the hug to look at Josie a bit better. "Since when are you and Hope so close? You guys have fought your whole lives, and the last time we spoke you weren't sure you were going to restore everyone's memories of her."

Josie was taken aback. "How did you know I was asking about her?"

Her mother rolled her eyes. "I remembered her too ,baby, it wasn't hard to put together." She shrugged. "Plus Freya called me."

That shocked Josie, she knew that her mother was close with Hope's father, very close, but she didn't think her mother would keep contact with the family after he died, unless she needed to tell them something about Hope but that fell to their father as of late. "Mom, did you love Klaus?" She wanted to ask this before, but she knew her mother loved Stephan.

Her mother pursed her lips. "In his own way, Klaus was a good man, and I loved that part of him I guess." Josie's mom looked into her eyes. "Having some conflicted feelings about a Mikealson?"

Josie's heart shrunk a bit. "No, Hope is a good friend." Josie stood abruptly. "I should get back to class, or you should at least go see Lizzie, she will probably be breaking the door down soon."

Her mom made a sound like she didn't believe Josie. "I want you and your sister to have dinner with your father and I tonight, it has been a while... maybe you could invite Hope?"

Josie almost shouted no. "I'll ask but her boyfriend just woke up from a magic coma so I am sure she will want to be with him.

Her mother rolled her eyes. "Just ask her Josette, I will see you later."

The door burst open, but it was Josie's father on the threshold. "Caroline, you're back." He didn't seem excited.

Josie's mother crossed her arms. "We have a lot to talk about Ric."

Josie looked between her parents. "I will just leave you two alone." She said trying to step past her father.

He blocked her path slightly. "We will talk later, Josette about class, tell Hope and Lizzie I will be speaking to them as well."

"You can talk to them over dinner." Her mother chimed in. "Tell Hope that is not a request anymore." She smiled.

Josie gritted her teeth as she stepped past her father, she needed to get out of here before things got any worse for her. This dinner might be a problem.