Secrecy (Hosie)

Part 103: Anniversary pt.1

Josie is four months into her pregnancy now. She and Hope have been trying to get back to normal, but Hope still hasn't had any luck recovering her memories.

But she and Hope have been adjusting to some sort of 'new normal.' Occasionally, they even flirt with each other. Josie feels like she's reliving the time when they started dating. But they haven't kissed since they found out they're having twins.

Josie has tried not to think about the whole Gemini twin merge thing, knowing it's not good for herself or the babies to get so stressed out while pregnant. She knows it's something they will have to deal with in the future though. Hope has been great, reassuring Josie that they will figure it out together.

Sometimes, Hope will act so much like her old self, that Josie will forget for a split second that things are different now. And further adding to her confusion and frustrations, Josie's hormones have been all over the place. Literally everything Hope does turns her on, even more-so than usual, which is a lot. Especially today, which happens to also be their anniversary.

She hasn't mentioned it to Hope, since she figures Hope simply forgot about it. It's not Hope's fault, but Josie can't help but feel upset about it. Here she is, carrying Hope's baby, and Hope can't even remember their first date, first kiss, proposal story, or anything in between. It's disheartening, but she's trying to keep her head held high.

When she realized this morning that Hope forgot, she decided to take up Lizzie's offer to spend the day together with their mom, at least until Hope picks her up for their check up at the doctor. Caroline and Lizzie have been trying to cheer her up all day, to no avail. It's the first time she's been apart from Hope since their engagement.

Even as she sees Hope pulling down the driveway of the Salvatore Boarding School, she lets out a low-spirited sigh, hugging her mom and Lizzie before making her way out the front doors. Her resolve begins to melt away when she sees the smile on her fiancé's lips as she stands by the passenger side door, awaiting Josie.

Josie can't help but reciprocate the smile as she approaches, and Hope greets her with a warm hug, one that Josie sinks into, sighing in content now, "Hi."

Hope chuckles lightly, "Hi, love." Josie's not sure if the sinking feeling in her chest is adoration at the familiar nickname, or heart ache in knowing Hope doesn't remember calling her that before. She chooses the former, wanting to keep her spirits up. Hope pulls away from the hug first, smile still present on her lips as she asks, "Ready to go?"

Josie nods, "Let's go."

Hope nods as well, opening up the passenger door and extending a hand to help Josie in, to which Josie offers a 'thank you' in return, before her door is shut behind her, and Hope makes her way to the driver side.

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"Everything seems to be going great, Ms. Saltzman," the doctor smiles politely as she looks between the couple, "Do you have any questions or concerns before I get you checked out?"

"Actually yes," Josie starts, making Hope furrow her eyebrows. Josie hasn't mentioned any concerns with her, so she has no idea where this is going. Josie thinks it's a little embarrassing to bring up, but Hope is her fiancé and this is her doctor, so she asks anyway, "Lately, I've been finding myself more..." her sentence trails off for a moment, trying to find the most appropriate way to word it, "...Sexually stimulated...?"

Josie purposefully avoids looking in Hope's direction to see her reaction, while the doctor nods in understanding, "That is nothing to be concerned about. It's completely normal during pregnancy to experience these kinds of hormonal fluctuations." She reassures Josie, who nods in relief. Well, partially relieved anyway... The part of her that is sexually frustrated is still very much sexually frustrated, but she's relieved to hear it isn't abnormal. The doctor picks up a file folder from the desk in the room, "Now, here are your results from today, should you two be interested in knowing the sexes of your babies. Congratulations again."

They had a talk beforehand, saying they want to wait until a later date to reveal the sexes of their babies, which was mainly Josie's idea, but Hope agreed.

When the doctor exits the room, leaving the couple alone, Josie eyes the folder before turning to Hope, "Um, could you grab my clothes for me, please?"

Hope nods, "Of course, love," Hope stands from her seat, walking over to grab Josie's clothes for her.

While Hope's back faces her, Josie tries to discreetly reach over, slowly lifting the folder open as her eyes shift from Hope to the file.

Hope turns back around with Josie's clothes in hand, catching Josie in the act, "Woah, hey!"

Josie jumps slightly as she retracts her hand, defensively and poorly feigning innocence, "What?!"

"Uh, you're looking..." Hope states the obvious.

"Okay, fine, I was looking. But I didn't see anything, I swear!"

"I thought you wanted to wait?"

"I do! I really do. It was just a momentary lapse, okay? That's it."

Hope shakes her head in amusement, "Okay, well I'm gonna hang onto the results since you clearly lack self-control." She picks up the file, handing Josie her clothes.

Josie takes them with a scoff, "Oh please, I think we proved 4 months ago that I have no self-control."

Hope can't help but chuckle at that as she turns around, allowing Josie to get dressed without the temptation to sneak a peek at the results.

Back in the car, it's quiet for a minute. Too quiet. Until Hope finally breaks the silence between them, "So should we open the envelope?"

Josie gasps, "What? No! We agreed, Hope!"

"Okay, okay, we won't look. It'll be a surprise," Hope nods, and they suddenly fall back into silence.

Until Hope sighs and addresses the other elephant in the room. "How come you didn't tell me you were feeling--" Josie's eyes widen slightly as she turns her head to look in Hope's direction, making Hope choose her words carefully, "frustrated?"

"Well," Josie sighs as she looks at the road ahead, "It's really not a big deal. I'm just having all of these feelings right now, and I don't know what to do about them. I only didn't tell you because there's nothing you can do about it right now."

Hope nods a single time before she half-shrugs, "I mean...I could--" Josie's eye widen much more this time when she turns toward Hope, scarlet immediately painting her cheeks and heat warming her lower region, "stop talking. I could stop talking," Hope finishes, letting the silence engulf them once again.

It's painfully quiet as Josie's mind comes up with a million different ways Hope might've finished that sentence differently, each one adding to the growing frustration she's been feeling lately.

Until her eyebrows furrow, looking out the window, back toward the road Hope just passed by, "Uh Hope, you missed the turn to our house." Josie assumes she simply forgot, much like everything else.

Hope glances toward Josie, a small smile tugging at her lips, "Actually, we aren't going home just yet. I had something else in mind."

Josie can't help the upward tug at her own lips, noting the mysterious way Hope is acting and the hint of nervousness in Hope's eyes. "Where are we going, then?"

Hope shoots Josie her signature smirk, "You'll see."

To be continued...