Let's just say that last night was a long night and that Josie absolutely paid me back for the other night and then some. Safe to say it took forever for her to convince me to wake up and it involved crepes.

"Baby, come on, sit up to eat."

"Fine." I grumble out as I prop myself up to eat the crepes. "These are amazing and you are amazing."

"They're just crepes."

"But they're amazing crepes." I say as I gently grab her arm and pull her closer to me for a kiss. I place my plate on the counter next to me with half eaten meals that are quickly forgotten as soon as Josie takes the opportunity of the new space to straddle me.

"Last night and blueberry crepes? Now what on earth did I do to deserve this?" I ask softly as I use my hand to brush away her fly aways from her face.

"Hmmm, you know, now that I think about it, nothing. Maybe I should take it all back." She says in a cheeky tone as she slips her hand from the side of my neck to the back of it to play with my baby hairs.

"You know we could just forget all about it." I say teasingly as I scrape my fingertips against her side gently enough just to bring goosebumps on the surface of her skin.

"Oh really? You're telling me that wasn't substantial enough to remember?" Josie replies as she backs off of my lap a bit and defensively crosses her arms across her chest, but I can tell by the way her frown isn't in full pout, she is also kidding.

"Nope, not at all."

"Not even when you were screaming my name when you ca–"

"Enough, enough. Yes, it was amazing and will never be forgotten. You win." I scramble out before the heat I feel in my cheeks becomes visible.

"Good." Is all she says as she pushes me back down to kiss me.

"You know we really should get going if Hope is top priority, we should be there on time." I can hear the insecurity slipping into my voice, and apparently Jos heard it too.

"You're my top priority."

Now this shouldn't be a surprise, it really shouldn't, but it's hard to ignore Josie's past feelings for the girl and the lengths she is willing to go for Hope. I do not blame either of them for this in any way, but sometimes insecurities get the best of people. I am no exception to that.

"And if you need to hear me say it again, you are my priority Cypress. This bus, this ring, these adventures, our dog. Our future. You will always be my priority, I wouldn't have accepted this ring if you weren't."

Now I am choked up and can't get out my words. "I love you." It comes out trembling and unsteady but Josie pays it no mind. She's doing all she can to reassure me.

"And I love you." She says gently as she leans in to kiss my lips, completely ignoring the fact that my eyes are watering, which is exactly all I could have asked for.

We stay in bed for a little while just hugging each other. We enjoy each other, we like spending time together, we like nerding out over stupid things, and she's my favorite person to talk to. It's like dating my best friend, which is all I could have ever wished for in this lifetime. I really do love her with all of my heart, and I want to do anything she feels is the right move.

"Alright, we really should get up. I would rather skip a Mikaelson witch hex in this lifetime." I say as I gently slip out of the bed and open up the doors of the bus to get Maz inside and pack her stuff away as Josie gets the bus running.

I hear the engine kick on as soon as I get the tent poles down and am able to wrap it up. I put it in the back storage compartment for where we camp next.

I get back on the bus and get in the driver's seat Maz gets on the bed and Jos goes to the work table to start jotting down ideas to bring forth to the Mikaelson's. We get comfortable for our 8 hour drive and leave the site we were at.

It's about an hour in when we're listening to Sleepwalking by Chiiild when the music gets rudely interrupted by the ringing of the phone playing the music. All I wanted to do was finish the song after the shitty drive so far so I tell Josie to ignore it.

"It's Penny."

"Fuck. Okay fine." I say as she hands me the phone before I even finish my sentence.

"Hiya stranger." Pen greets.

"Hello Penelope Park."

"Oh Cy we can skip the formalities, really. What are you guys doing?"

"Oh were heading towards L–"

"The gas station, we really need more diesel, especially with most of our utilities running off of it." I give a silent look to Josie that says we are not telling Pen where we are going.

I love Pen with my whole heart but I do not trust her to stay away if we tell her where we are going. Pen is very protective so although there are a lot of complications surrounding the Mikaelson's, Pen sees them as the people who made my family move away from our pack. Now, she does seem like a werewolf hater in most aspects but she understands the customs, and she understands what my parents had to leave behind. So, although I am sure she understands that it is not entirely their fault or they had reasons to do what they did, she is also my best friend who is like family and she is protective of family, same as me.

"Oh cool, well my mother and I are starting to pack."

"Pen, it's like a week early."

"So what? I have a lot of things to pack, you only turn 19 once."

That's when Josie cuts in. "Wait. You're coming down for Cypress's birthday?"

"Yeah. Her whole family already has tickets booked. So we're going to arrive on Monday and then your aunt, uncle and Wren are coming down Wednesday so we all will get everything ready by the big day on Friday."

"Wait, is Raven not coming?"

"Ohhhh, right. Raven, I must have forgotten." She says in a voice that is trying way too hard to sound normal.

"Pen."

"What?" She asks a bit nervously.

"Why are you being weird in regards to my cousin?" I narrow my eyes at her trying to see through whatever mask she is putting on right now.

"I am not being weird."

"Yes you are." I say raising my voice a bit.

"Cy, we've been talking more recently."

"Penelope, I am going to stop you right there. I swear to god if you are having any type of relationship with my baby cousin I will be quite upset."

"She's not a baby, she's literally only 18 months younger than you."

"Yes, which means she's a whole 15 months younger than you. No."

"Josie is pretty close to that age gap from you."

"Yeah well I gave you my blessing once and you fucked it up and you didn't have to clean it up after. It was great to hear from you but I really have to pay attention to the road now. I will see you on Monday, love you." I say in an agitated tone as I hang up on her.

"Hey baby are you okay?" Josie asks as she walks over to her side of the bench to sit down next to me while slipping a hand behind my neck to rub out the knots there. The action reminds me of my mother and instantly calms me down.

"Yeah, it's just that Raven is like my little sister. I remember when I was finally big enough to hold her, I remember the way I used to sneak her chocolate under the table when no one was watching. I am just very protective of her and I don't want to see her hurt again."

"I see. But there is no way they could be a good match and you're just too stuck on the fact that Penelope hurt her in the past to let them figure it out."

"No. Jos you don't get it."

"Don't I though? From what I have heard from both of them they seem like they would compliment each other well and I think Raven is old enough to make her own choices."

I sigh loudly. "I don't know Jos. The last time Pen and I almost ended everything."

"Then don't put that much on the line. They're both your family, you don't have to choose between them."

Just then I hear a ding from my phone signaling I have a message.

Cy I know you're pretty upset with me right now but that wasn't my intention. I understand that you don't want what happened to repeat and if you see us together and you still hate the idea I will back off. Please drive safely. I love you and can't wait to see you.

"See. She's more mature than she was last time. Just let them give it a shot before you make a decision, Penelope had the respect to give us the same chance." Josie says softly as she grabs my hand to kiss my knuckles.

Usually I would be pretty uptight with people telling me how to handle family issues, I think most people would be, but I know that Josie really only means this in a way that is best for everyone. 

I think she even knows that I would only listen to her ideas no matter how far they could be from mine, no matter how hard it is to hear I value her opinions and I will end up giving it more thought. She pushes me and I appreciate that.

So, although it hurt a bit to hear, I know she means best and I can't be mad at her for that so we keep our hands intertwined as I continue to drive.