24th of July
It's 8 p.m. when he walks into the living room where he hears the television sounds.
There's a children's program on. It's colorful, animated and the animals can talk.
His eyes move towards the couch where Rae and Zoe are sitting crawled up against each other.
He eyes them from the doorway. Rae pulled her bare feet upon the couch and is resting into the pillows. She must've drifted off with Zoe against her side, who's still watching cartoons.
When he moves a little closer he sees Rae's bare and pale legs.
His eyes roam slowly from her ankle, over her lower leg and all the way up to her thighs. Her dress got pushed up all the way to her hips. He licks his lips almost instinctively when he sees the seem of her white panties, just beneath the fabric of her green dress. He groans internally, frustration and lust increasing his body temperature significantly.
Images of all the different ways he could fuck the little half-breed into oblivion makes him forgot his daughter is right there with them in the room.
"Hi daddy" Zoe suddenly breaks his train of thoughts.
He tears his gaze away from Rae and takes a deep breath "Hey kiddo".
Zoe puts a finger in front of her mouth, as to gesture him to be silent "Rae fell asleep" she whispers mischievously "Now I can stay up longer".
Their voices seem to wake her up though.
He smirks wickedly and tries to put on a stern voice "You call this work frail?" his voice gives him away though "Can't believe I pay you for this shit".
Rae yawns sleepily and groans a little "I fell asleep?" she mumbles as she looks around the room. Her eyes find Creed "Language please, with your daughter in the room".
He smirks and quickly redirects his gaze when she starts rearranging her dress.
Shame.
"Hey you" Rae gives Zoe a playful shove "Time for bed".
"No, no, no" Zoe replies as she shakes her head drastically "One more cartoon, pleeeeeease Rae?".
Rae chuckles "Ask your father if you can watch one more cartoon" she nods towards Creed who doesn't seem thankful at all with his task of setting limits for his daughter.
Zoe jumps off the couch and clamps her little arms around her dad's legs.
"One more cartoon daddy?" she repeats the question.
Creed shakes his head "When Rae says it's bedtime, that means it's bedtime".
Zoe pouts but Victor simply lifts her up and starts carrying her off to her room. He's in need of a serious distraction, away from the half-breed on his couch with her bare legs and dress pushed up all the way to her thighs.
"I'll tell you a story about a little girl who wanted to stay up late" she hears Creed's voice disappear into the hallway and she wonders if he really is going to tell Zoe a story.
When he doesn't come back for the next 15 minutes, Rae figures that he really did.
She smiles politely at him when he walks back into the living room.
"That was nice of you" she tries to compliment him on his parenting skills and break the uncomfortable silence at the same time. She's not really used to being in the same room with him without Zoe present.
He doesn't reply.
"I wanted to talk to you about something" she continues carefully "I think we should watch our language a little better with Zoe around".
His eyes instantly meet hers "We?".
"You" she confesses "I heard Zoe say the word 'shit' the other day and that is far from okay for a four-year-old".
Creed yawns lazily as she stretches his muscles "I don't need a lecture from you on setting an example frail" he snaps at her "Especially not from you".
She cocks a brow "What is that supposed to mean?".
He scoffs out a sarcastic laugh "You're the one setting a bad example for my cub by taking that fucking serum. You're the one who's showing her that being feral is something to be ashamed off. I don't give a fuck how many cuss words she uses per day. But I care about her growing up believing that feral genes are a disease. My daughter will be like us one day, well, like me anyway. And you're showing her that that's something to be ashamed off".
Her eyes grow wide as she blinks. She's not sure if she's hearing him correctly. For one because she's never heard him speak so many sentences to her at once, and secondly because who the fuck is he to judge her?!
Instinctively she moves closer to him as she clenches her teeth in anger.
"Ashamed?" she scoffs loudly and she gives him a deadly glare "You think I take that shit willingly because I am ashamed?".
He's never seen her this furious.
If looks could kill, he would be a dead man right now.
"Why the fuck else would you take it?" he dares ask her.
The first time he met her he'd looked down on her because he knew she took something, whatever it was, to suppress who she really was. To hide that she was a feral mutant.
She glares at him "With all due respect mister Creed, but that is none of your business. Like we agreed, remember? No personal business. Just take it from me, that shame has absolutely nothing to do with it" she snaps as she shuts her book loudly and gets up from the couch, leaving him behind to wonder why she would take the serum if it wasn't for shame of her feral side.
Annoyed and frustrated he stalks after her "Did I say you could leave?".
"I don't need your permission. You hired me to take care of your daughter, that's what I do".
"Get your ass back here frail".
She scoffs and turns around, staring daggers at him.
He likes her this way. He can't help it but there's just something about her when she's angry and it amuses him greatly.
"You don't tell me what to do" she fires back at him.
He grabs her arm roughly and pulls her against him "Listen here you little half-breed, you can storm off all you like, but I'm not gonna apologize for wanting a feral to act like a fucking feral. You should be thankful for those genes".
"I don't even want you to apologize! I want you to leave me and my private life alone!".
She tries to get out of his grip but he's way stronger.
He bares his teeth at her, extremely close to her face, she can feel his warm breath caressing her soft skin.
An evil smirk appears on his face.
"Wanna hear a little secret?" he whispers into her ear, pulling her flush against him "I already know why you take it".
He moves his face away from hers to fully enjoy her shocked expression.
She swallows hard "No you don't" she replies almost inaudible, her voice trembling.
He smirks wickedly "Germany. 2005. Your first year of high school. Seven of your classmates died. Ring a bell?".
He sees her lips tremble as tears dwell up in her eyes.
Suddenly his stomach turns and it's no longer satisfying to torture her.
Finding out information about people was one of his specialties. It had been a piece of cake. He made a few phone calls and within a day he found out there had been a girl of 14 years old who literally 'went feral' and accidentally massacred seven of her fellow students.
Bullies. That's what they were. Bullies who bullied her about her teeth, her fangs, her hair and her sometimes slightly animal-like reactions to incidents. Every day, over and over again. One day they pushed her too far and her feral cycle happened to kick in that moment. Something she didn't know anything about.
She'd lost control, like many unguided ferals do, and when she got back to her senses, there were seven bodies around her and a lot of blood on her.
Their blood.
Shortly after that, she was picked up by Charles Xavier and his team and never set another foot on German ground.
But looking at her now, he regrets bringing it up. He expected her to be shocked, just wanted to tease her a little. He never wanted her to relive the past.
She's breathing heavily, hyperventilating almost as unwelcoming tears run down her cheeks.
"I... I...I... didn't want to. But then... and then they were..." she speaks in incoherent sentences.
She's panicking and he's never seen her like this, nor expected to ever see her like this.
Suddenly his own instincts kick in.
"Frail, come one... It's alright... Take a breath... I'm just messin' with ya" he mumbles, clearly uncomfortable with what he's done "Didn't mean to... ya know... just wanted to get under your skin a little. Don't cry now, okay?".
For a moment he has no clue what to do with her in this state. She's usually strong, capable and extremely willful. But right now she just seems so vulnerable and he's the one who caused it.
By accident.
Suddenly and most hesitantly he puts his arm around her like he's seen her do with Zoe when the cub is upset or just for whatever reason really. She doesn't shoo away, instead she leans in and hides her crying face into his shirt.
He finds it hard to understand why she is crying though. He read about the way she was bullied and it was quite horrifying. In his eyes, they asked for it and got exactly what they deserved.
"Ya know frail" he clumsily tries to calm her down a little "This sorta thing, the loss of control, it happens to all ferals when they go into their first cycle and there's no one around to guide them. You and them just happened to be in the wrong place and the wrong time. There's nothing you can do about that. It was bound to happen. Not your fault".
She pulls away from him but only a little, and quickly wipes away her tears. Slightly ashamed of breaking down like this. Extremely embarrassed about leaning in and letting him comfort her.
"I'm not like you" she looks at him with desperate eyes "I don't have control like you do. And I don't want anything like that to happen again".
"And that's why you take the serum" he finishes her sentence.
She takes a deep breath and nods.
"You are like me" he reassures her "And you do have control. You're just afraid something like that will happen again. But it won't".
"How do you know?".
"Just trust me".
She scoffs, that's a lot to ask "Mister Creed, I can't be around people without the serum, imagine me being around Zoe without it".
He smirks "I'd prefer it that way".
She makes a face "You would trust me around your daughter, with my past, without the serum? As a feral?".
"I would".
She laughs a little "Then you're wicked crazy".
He chuckles "No. I just know what I'm talking about. And I don't want my cub to think that being feral is something that you should suppress with medication".
She shakes her head and exhales slowly "Don't you think for a moment that I would not like to live without the serum. I would love to be like you, you know, in control and just be myself completely but... I don't think I can".
"I think you can and I'll make you a deal" he says as he cracks his neck and crosses his arms in front of him "You're always nagging at me about how I should spend more time with Zoe. If you stop taking the serum, I'll do whatever activity you want me to do, for as long as you want me to do it".
Her eyes widen and she starts laughing "That is so mean. You know how much I want you to spend more time on Zoe and you're using it as leverage".
He shrugs "Take it or leave it".
"I'll take it!".