Chapter Text
“Hey jojo. Where’s Mais and Mg?”
“Oh, there with mom.”
“Oh okay. Shall I make burgers tonight for when they come back, and should I be making eight burgers for mom, Bon, and Lizzie and Hope for when they find out I’m cooking?” Penelope says with a chuckle.
“Yeah. Yeah burgers sound great. Hey Pen?”
“Yes bubba?”
“Are you busy next week?”
“Um, I have the rescheduling with Johnathan, and the call back for Lauren. Why is something happening?”
“Oh, never mind then.”
“Okay, No. You were planning something. Nothings more important than you and the kids. My job can wait.”
“No, no. You’re right, you did tell me next week your busy. And you’ve been so excited to go back since Johnathan got rehired and your callback- Gosh how could I forget! They’ve waited so long I-”
“And they can wait longer, Josie-” Suddenly Josie rushes to hug Penelope. And of course, Penelope embraces the hug and with so much love.
“Hey-Hey. Why are you crying? Di- did something happen? Did I do something? Is everything alright Jojo? I-” And suddenly Josie’s lips are on Penelope’s and time is still. Life is still. Nothing can ruin this moment.
“No. You didn’t do anything wrong. You could never do anything wrong Pen. I love you.”
“I love you. But, is everything okay?”
“Yeah, its just, I’ve had such a rough day. And Hop-”
“What did she do.” Penelope says dropping the loving act towards Josie. “I swear if she did something to you, I will hurt her. I don’t care if she’s my stepsister or my sister-sister in law now. You know what-” Penelope gets off the couch rushing to her phone and immediately dials Hope, but Josie stops her before Hope can pick up.
“No- no. Hope didn’t do anything.”
“You promise?”
“Of course. I promise. If you’d let me finish, I was going to say Hope told me to tell you.”
“Oh, okay. Tell me what?” Penelope says holding Josie once again
“Well Hope was going to tell you herself but she and Lizzie have been going through a lot -And um, well Lizzie had a miscarriage. It’s their thrid!”
“Oh my-”
“And I went to go visit them while you were at work today and when I arrived and Lizzie and Hope were just crying. I didn’t know what to do- I couldn’t think about the thought of losing a chil-” Josie couldn’t finish the sentence. “I just- I watched them. I watched them grief over their baby. And Liz and Hope just told me to go back home. ANd once I got here, I had a panic attack so I called mom to come and get them. So I was just waiting for you, and it felt like the longest two hours and now you’re here and I just- What if we lost Maisee Pen? What if we hadn’t had Mg? I just can’t. I mean this is so much different than what Liz and Hope are going through, I mean we actually have our kids, but I just got so scared of the thought of losing them-”
“Hey, hey shhhhh. It’s okay baby. I’m here. We’re here.” Penelope brings Josie into a tighter hug and lifts her onto the island table. “I have no clue how Hope and Lizzie are going to cope with this but, don’t think that. Okay, Hope and Lizzie, they have it different from us, and I cannot compare anything of what we have to them. Josie it is horrible. It’s terrible that they have to go through that so many times and I know they’re trying so hard. I know we have no right to say that this is hard on us because it hasn’t happened to us, but god, losing a child is hard. But please don’t ever think we could have lost Maisee, or Mg. Please don’t think that we can lose our family. That includes Hope and Lizzie. One day they will have a child, and they will love them so much, as will we. And Mg and Mais can have playdates with them. And Lizzie and Hope will be great parents. Okay? Sometimes we lose things and that’s alright. But life gets better.”
They spend ten minutes in each other's arms not wanting to let go of what they have. Of what could’ve been lost.
After and hour of settling down Penelope fulfills her promise of cooking eight burgers, as osie sets the table.
“Hey Pen?”
“Jo?”
“I know you said we lose things. But I can’t really think of what we lost?” Josie says sitting down at one of the chairs. With Penelope following after her.
“Well, we may haven’t lost anything but- I know we don’t bring this up but, I almost lost you Jojo. I almost lost you over a stupid girl, and I knew I couldn’t live without you. I would’ve lost my whole life.” Penelope says grabbing onto Josie’s hand as Josie sadly looks at the kitchen table. “And I’ve lost someone. Umm- when I turned 5, actually uh the day I met you, I lost my brother, my twin actually, Jed. When I was little, I never actually thought anything was wrong with him, I mean of course I didn’t we were just kids. But when I was four I sorta noticed that whenever we played together, he was always out of breath after barely walking up stairs. And the day before my birthday, they Took him to the hospital. My parents told me, he just needed to rest. And the next day he didn’t come back so as a lonely five-year-old I wanted to play, and that’s when I saw you. Well you and Lizzie outside. I didn’t think I would lose so much but then you came into my life. And even Hope. I mean you know I never knew my dad, and that my mom was a single mother. Henely Park. The strongest woman I know. And then she met Hayley. And a year later Hayley was walking down the aisle and Hope and I were the flower girls. The forbidden sisters. We got so lucky. Even Klaus was there. He’s very nice.”
“How is he?”
“Oh, he’s good. Hanging in New Orleans for now. I know it’s weird to say this but he’s a good father figure. I mean I'm not even his actual daughter and he treats me like his. He’s a good dad, just Hayley and him wanted different things. I’m so lucky to have this family. We’ve all lost things but in the end we’re, here right? Together. I couldn’t ask for a better family.”
Another minute of silence.
“I- never knew about Jed. I’m sorry-”
“No, don’t. I never told you about him, I actually haven’t told anyone besides Hope, and Hayley probably knows from my mom but you shouldn’t be sorry. It wasn’t your fault. He would’ve loved the kids. Spoil them rotten. Not that Liz and Hope don’t already do but gosh the thought of an uncle. Oh boy.” Another minute passes of Josie holding Penelope’s hand. “Okay. Enough of my past or the past in general. Tonight we are here for Lizzie and Hope.”
“Okay baby. I’ll tell mom to come over for dinner. Should I call Lizzie?”
“Um, no. I’ll call them. Thank you though.”
“Of Course.”
After plating the burgers and sides Josie goes off the living room to call Caroline while Penelope has Hope on the dial.
“Hello?” A tired Hope answers
“Hope.”
“Oh, hey turtle.” Hope sadly chuckles
“Hey wolf. Josie told me the news. I’m sorry sis.”
“No, no don’t be. We’ve already talked about this. We don’t say sorry for things we couldn’t fix.”
“I know, but I am still sorry. I know you’ve been trying so many times.”
“Yeah, sometimes it just doesn’t work out.” a second passes. “I love you Penelope.”
“I love you to Hope.”
“Is Josie okay? We didn’t know what to do but Lizzie and I both weren't in the right state and she just had such a scared face and we told her to go home. I know mom has the kids but is everything okay?”
“Yeah. She’s better now. She had a panic attack but she’s calmer now. Oh, and I also told her about Jed.”
“Oh, really? Are you okay?”
“Yeah, actually I feel good. She would have loved him.”
“Yeah, he would have spoiled your kids rotten though.” Hope laughs
“That’s what I said!” Penelope says joining Hope.
“Hey uh, is it okay if Lizzie and I come over tonight?”
“Of course, I was going to invite you two to dinner anyways, Jo is calling mom to bring the kids back and I think Bonnie is coming over as well. It’ll be a full house but, I think that’s good right now.”
“Yeah. It is. Okay, we’ll be right over.”
“Okay, take your time. I’m sure mom will take forever since she has the kids.”
“Yeah, you're right. Okay I’ll see you soon.”
“Yeah. Bye Wolf.”
“Bye turtle.”
Turning around Josie comes back from the living room
“So?”
“They’re on their way. What about mom?”
“They're coming, should be here in ten.” Josie says walking up to Penelope while pulling into a hug.
“I love you.”
“I love you.”
“So what was going to happen next week?”
“Oh yeah, I was just going to say, let's go on a vacation. With the whole family. Clear our minds.”
“I think that sounds wonderful.”
“Okay, perfect then. I’ll bring it up during dinner.”
“Perfect.”
15 minutes later
*Ding Dong
“I’ll get it.” Penelope say getting up from the couch.
“Hello!” Penelope greets Caroline and Bonnie while they each carry a child. “Oh, and my children! HELLO!”
“MOOOMMMAAA!” Both Maisee and Mg scream as they jump down from Caroline and Bonnie to hug Penelope’s legs.
“Hi my loves.” Penelope says while kissing each their heads.
“MOMMY!” Mg says while running up to Josie as she walks towards the door causing Maisee to hug Penelope’s leg once more and join Mg in tackling Josie’s legs. After Penelope watches her kids trample her wife she looks back to the front door.
“Hey mom. Hey aunt Bon” Penelope greets while hugging them both.
“Hey Penelope.” They both greet her happily. “Hope and Lizzie are right behind us.” Caroline says while entering further into the house.
Not even a second later Hope engulfs Penelope into a hug from out of nowhere.
“Hey sis.” Hope says while Penelope hugs her tighter.
“You two doing okay?” Penelope says slightly pulling back.
“With my family by my side. Always.” Hope finishes while kissing Penelope on the cheek and entering the house. Followed by Hope is Lizzie, with the exact same intentions, But only after they are all inside and the front door is closed.
“Hey Penelope.” Lizzie says while pulling Penelope into a welcoming hug.
“Hey Lizzie.” Penelope greets with just as much enthusiasm. “Holding up okay?”
“Yeah, just need my family.”
“Always.” Penelope responds while releasing the hug as Lizzie gives a quick kiss to her cheek and goes to greet everyone else. Maybe we haven’t lost everything, Maybe we just need to be loved.