Vivika awoke to the bed void beside her, clearly Thomas had scurried off in the night no doubt to kill and murder; she just hoped his face healed soon. Vivika honestly hadn't been surprised when she'd woken alone, she really hoped it was something to do with that fucking nuke Quinlan and Fet had gotten themselves. Thomas could have been gone for anywhere between several hours and several days and at full speed he could have been literally anywhere by now so the semi-immortal didn't fret and instead stretched then rolled onto her back as she missed his constant warmth.
For a moment Vivika didn't remember anything that had happened the previous night and then it all struck her again like a tidal wave. Dutch and Setrakian had escaped, she'd scarred Sanjay's handsome face and... Vivika's hand shot to her belly where it rested lovingly as a smile grew on her lips. Vivika couldn't help suddenly beaming with happiness. The experiment! Thomas had given them a child! Oh nothing would ruin that feeling. Vivika ignored his warnings that the pregnancy might not take, it would work, it had to work.
"You're going to be strong and calculating just like your daddy, aren't you. Just don't forget to be manipulative like mommy."
She lay there a time with her smile and her thumb brushing softly over her flat stomach, mind not really focused on anything. Still, she couldn't remain in bed all day so was finally forced to sit herself up and get out of bed. Daylight was in full bloom outside and to be honest she wasn't entirely sure how much sleep she'd actually gotten. The raven-haired beauty took a quick shower then plucked out an outfit – a black skirt and white blouse – before she donned her signature lipstick; a girl wanted to look her best when ruling the world. This was a good day and she needed to make sure her underlings and their incompetence didn't mess that up for her, she'd make sure Sanjay remembered her vow to kill his wife should he fuck up again.
As she sat there at her vanity the memory of having to peel all that fake flesh off of Thomas' face returned, the whole experience had been horrid just by the smell alone. Vivika couldn't deny she'd done some bad things in her life but setting a man on fire was just wrong; especially when that man was her darling Thomas. Her hand returned to her stomach.
"Let's not worry about Daddy, he can take care of himself."
With that Vivika went back to her make-up, put on her favorite purple lipstick then returned to the closet for her matching ankle boots. While Thomas wore his mask to remind himself he was special to The Master, better than the other Strigoi, Vivika wore hers for a far more simple reason and that was that her clothes gave her confidence.
With Thomas gone Vivika quickly got to work, she'd quickly checked up on Desei after the fuck up of the century and was actually pleased to fond that he'd already got things up and running again. The maternity facility had reluctantly gotten back on track and under control, Wing Seven had started to function as if nothing had ever happened as well. A wave of happiness had washed over the raven-haired beauty, Sanjay had just needed a little nudge to get him focused and then boom, results! Now all they needed was to get Setrakian's people beaten into submission and Vivika's life would be perfect. A husband, a baby, vast control over an entire country; yes, perfect.
Throughout the day Vivika refused to let anything ruin her happy mood and thankfully nothing tried to. She'd not even let her visit to Zach ruin her day, especially when she'd gone to the trouble of taking him a gift.
As soon as she stepped off the elevator the ever-present Feeler scurried out to greet her with that usual snarl on its face, it stretched up a little and sniffed loudly at the plastic tray in her hand. Vivika ignored it as she moved further into the apartment.
"Z! Come out, come out wherever you are." She chuckled to herself and headed for the kitchen area. "I brought cake, we're celebrating and nothing is going to knock me out of my happy mood."
Vivika stopped dead when she spotted Zach's maid – Abby – dead on her back, clearly she'd been fed on my the Feeler. The semi-immortal sighed, well, fuck. She dumped the cake tray down on the cluttered, circular table and ignored the way the Feeler crawled over to look over the dead body.
She shook her head. "Nope, still happy."
Christ, she hated that kid! Vivika called out for Zach a few more times but no answer came, finally she was forced to glare down at the Feeler who took the hint and shuffled off clearly leading her to the boy. Unsurprisingly Vivika was guided to Zach's bedroom where she found him with his face buried deep into his pillow though he didn't seem to be crying. With an eye roll Vivika went to go and sit on th bed's edge which got the boy to jump in surprise.
"Vivi?"
"You couldn't hear me calling you?"
By the looks of it he'd been much too lost in his own thoughts she doubted he'd heard a thing at all. This kid seriously was quite pathetic.
"Are you okay? What happened to the girl?"
She spoke softly as though she genuinely cared and rested a hand on his calf comfortingly. Zach sat himself up further and glanced down to the Feeler which had settled close.
"We're family right? The Master's family?"
Vivika nodded, because that had been her original job, keep Zach on side. "Of course we're family, Z. You know that and I hope you never forget it. Big sister, remember?"
The boy breathed out a sad laugh but still shuffled down the bed to hug the elder woman. Zach liked to pretend he was grown-up but in reality he was just a child who threw too many tantrums.
"What did the girl do?" Although, Vivika presumed the girl probably hadn't actually done anything.
"… Doesn't matter" He mumbled.
Which meant he'd tried flirting, fucked it up, gotten angry and let his Feeler turn her. Fucking idiot of a child! Some days she really did wonder why she, Thomas and The Master even bothered. Why couldn't they have just killed the kid and moved on with their day? It was pretty clear that Eichhorst and his bride just wanted to hold on to Zach as leverage until Goodweather was dead but The Master had some years in the making plan for the boy that the rest of them saw as utterly pointless; the time would never be worth the reward.
"You look happy, Vivi."
Vivika snapped out of her internal thoughts and grumblings then, her green eyes fluttered rapidly as the world their Master had created returned to her. It was then she realized Zach still had a hold of her and she did her very best not to shuffle out of it.
"Well that's because I am." Vivika plastered on the bold smile she used for Zach and small animals. "We're celebrating, I brought cake."
With that she couldn't take Zach's tear stained hands any longer and politely removed herself to stand then slowly started to walk out of his room back towards the kitchen fully aware that Zach would trial along behind her like the little puppy he was. Vivika peered down at Abby as she lay their lifeless – for the time being anyway.
"Move her to a corner or something." She said to the Feeler once it appeared and it obeyed quickly, dragged Abby's slowly turning body off.
Zach only spared the girl a glance in passing before he turned back to Vivika as she cut a slice of the chocolate cake she'd brought with her. He smiled when she trust the plate out towards him and took it happily, as if he'd suddenly forgotten about the dead woman on his floor. Damn child!
"What are we celebrating? Your birthday was months ago and mine isn't until next month so-?"
Vivika cut him off with a gesture for him to sit down which they both did; she took a bite of her cake.
"Our family is growing, Zach." Vivika couldn't stop grinning. "Oh, it's wonderful."
"Growing? How? Wait, am I gonna be turned?!" Zach's eyebrows shot up.
"What?" Why did everything have to be about Zach? That damn insignificant and worthless boy! "No, no you're fine the way you are." No he wasn't, Zach was just a dumb moron who didn't realize his fits about not being a child just made him more childish. "You're not going to be turned, Z."
"Then what?" He helped himself to a bite of cake.
Vivika took a breath, oh she'd been so happy and even Zach Goodweather wouldn't ruin it for her.
"Thomas and I are going to have a baby!"
Zach paused with his fork half way to his wide open mouth. He just stared at her a while while she continued with her cake, clearly he had no idea where to even begin with that comment.
"How-? What-? Is that even possible?"
Vivika nodded. "If there is one thing I've learned since meeting my Thomas, it is to never underestimate his ability to do the impossible."
He finally ate that fork full of cake. "You're really going to have a baby?"
She nodded again after she'd forced away the possibility that the pregnancy wouldn't take. It had to, it would!
"Uh-huh. You'll get to be an uncle. Uncle Zach, how does that sound?"
Zach shrugged and shovelled some more cake into his mouth. "Kinda cool, I guess."
Vivika wasn't blind, she'd noticed the way Zach had grown distant, he'd lost the girl he'd developed a crush on and no he felt like Vivika would leave him for this baby; she would, of course she would, Vivika would have abandoned Zach for a Klondike bar. Still, she needed to comfort him, push that 'we're a family idea' back into place.
"What are you going to name it?"
"Oh, I think we'll wait until I start to show before Thomas and I sit down to talk about that."
She reached out for Zach's fork-less hand and gave it a little squeeze, just a tiny burst of comfort for him. Zach always had liked the reminder that Vivika adored him, even if it were all a lie.
"This is a good thing, Z. It means our family continues, grows stronger. The Master, Thomas, you, myself and now this baby."
"I know." He sighed "You know, sometimes I still talk to my mom-" yeah, she knew "– and she always says the same things you do, we're family. I miss her so much."
Vivika rolled her eyes, would that boy ever shut up about his damn mother?
"I know you do, baby boy, but you still talk to her so she's not completely gone. As long as you remember her then your father can't really have taken her away from you."
That seemed to get the the reaction she wanted out of him because he flashed her a much happier expression before he returned to his cake. Vivika's and Thomas' baby wouldn't be anything like Zach, Vivika wouldn't have been able to cope with such a brat.
As they continued to eat their cake slices Vivika managed to shift him to telling her about his latest video game which distracted him. The pair even played a round of air hockey together. Vivika had always been good at distracting people; manipulation had always been a talent. So, when it came to her finally managing to escape Zach had been more than happy to let her leave without issue or whining. Thank God.