I Hate the Way...

Part 28: "How Was Your Show?"

"Mikaelson...Back to U.S. soil...You look a little dizzy...Your surgeries went well Ms. Mikaelson...Hit her with another dose, her heart rate's climbing...We're gonna let you rest to help you heal...You'll be on the mend before you know it...Ms. Mikaelson, your family's here..."

Hope hears snippets and phrases coming from doctors and nurses and staff at the hospital every now and then. They've been keeping her heavily sedated and medicated for the pain, but she hates how foggy it makes her senses. It's the weakest she's ever felt, and that's saying a lot.

When she blinks her eyes open, all she sees is hospital lights and the ceiling of her private room. She had barely registered that she was now off the plane.

She winces at the light, and she feels like her body is hardly her own. She can't move much of anything. Her lower limbs feel heavy, wrapped up with bandages. She feels a small strip on the side of her forehead, holding together a cut that was glued together. Her ribs feel bruised with every breath she takes. There's a pounding sensation in her head.

She takes a shaky breath, trying to remember how to breathe consciously.

She tries to lift her head up, but she finds that to be a difficult task, it ends up falling back against her pillow as she exhales shallowly.

My family's here.

She vaguely hears footsteps, expecting to hear Josie's voice momentarily.

She hears a voice that belongs to one of the men in uniform first, "Right this way..." showing her wife to her room, Hope presumes.

"Hope."

Hope's head shoots up from her pillow at the sound of that voice.

Her eyes widen, her heart dropping from her chest.

"What are you doing here?"

Freya opens her mouth to answer, but she's interrupted when MG vamps to Hope's bedside, leaning down to hug her gently, "Oh my god, Hope, you look like you got ran over by a freight train."

"Real nice, Milton," Lizzie scolds him.

Kol tries to ease the tension, noticing the way Hope's eyes never stray from their family, "Could've at least told us you got married." He chuckles, nervously.

Marcel chimes in, also trying to lighten the mood, "Yeah, congratulations."

Hope's jaw locks, until she feels a presence at her other side, and she turns her head.

"Hi," She lets out a breath of relief, starting to reach for her wife's hand, "Hi babe."

"Oh m-" Josie lets out a breath, her eyes scanning Hope's body, her eyes welling with tears as she finally meets Hope's gaze, "Hi."

She immediately leans down, leaving a brief kiss to her lips, filled with relief and intensity. 

She not entirely sure why. But she blames it on the fact that they have company and they need to act like a real couple.

When she pulls away, she places a hand lightly against Hope's shoulder, as her wife's gaze returns to her family members, "I'm so sorry, baby," Josie says to her.

She apologizes both for Hope's current state and because Hope is obviously overwhelmed by her family being here.

"I never thought I'd see you here," Freya steps closer to the foot of Hope's bed, "like this..." She shakes her head at the sight, finding it all hard to believe.

Hope wants to scoff, but she doesn't. She only looks down at her hand that remains in her lap.

"Or in the Marines for that matter," Rebekah adds.