Epilogue 2. Vernita Green aka Copperhead

For Vernita Green, there was only one thing, and one thing only, that really mattered to her since the massacre at Two Pines. And that thing was a man; a tall, dark and handsome one that is, one by the name of Lawrence Bell.

'Doctor' Lawrence Bell to be precise.

Oh, he was a fine tall drink of water, that Lawrence Bell, and Vernita found herself mighty thirsty.

She'd been seeing Dr. Bell for months; almost five to be exact, when she took part in the massacre at the Two Pines Wedding Chapel in El Paso Texas, and the near murder of the Black Mamba aka Beatrix Kiddo…..along with the rest of the wedding party.

Vernita had smartly kept her little fling with the good doctor a secret from Bill and the rest of the Vipers. Not because she feared any sort of stupid jealousy from any of them, but because she knew that it would be thrown back in her face with everything that had happened with Beatrix. So, for the moment her relationship bliss was kept safely in the dark.

Lawrence worked his medical magic in Sacramento, California. Vernita had been taking small side trips after her assignments to go and see him; even when she initially had been states away from California. But it seemed he was tired of Sacramento and was looking to move a little further south; perhaps San Diego or Pasadena. And he wanted her to move with him.

Vernita had so far kept her life as an assassin a secret from Lawrence, and she had every intention of keeping it that way…no matter what happened. He didn't need to know what she was and what she had done in the past; in fact….he would never know.

Ya see, Vernita knew from the moment that she met Lawrence Bell that she was going to get out of the assassin's life. Maybe she even knew it much earlier on, long before she'd nearly killed Beatrix Kiddo….a woman she'd considered a friend for years. It had always been in the back of her mind, and it wasn't until now that it made sense.

She was going to shed her former skin like the snake she was and emerge a new woman.

It wasn't that Vernita didn't like the killing or the money….or the lifestyle in general; she loved it. She loved to wield a knife and plug it into some stupid motherfucker's guts…and then get paid some sick amount of money for doing it. She loved jetting around the world, staying at the best places, eating great food, wearing nice clothes. But in the end, something was missing…..and it was her biological clock that told her so. She wanted a family, and a woman who killed people for a living could never have a proper family; Beatrix had understood that better than any of them.

To top it all off, the chemistry within the Deadly Vipers was at its all time vilest.

To begin with, there was the all around shock of Beatrix's amazing survival. For a group of people who prided themselves on being utterly proficient and thorough, the news of such a 'failure' was unfamiliar and discontenting to all of them. They'd turned on one of their own, and she'd manage to survive that betrayal. It was not a comforting thought.

Then, there was O-Ren's cold aloofness and her near disappearance from the whole scene all together. She'd always been an arrogant bitch, but after Two Pines her ego seemed to quadruple in size. Her and Vernita had never gotten along all that great to begin with anyways. The half-breed clung to Bill's parental adoration and flow of underground funds like some petulant child. It was annoying beyond words and Vernita counted O-Ren out of the picture fairly early on. Best of luck to her, hope she doesn't get her fucking head chopped off in Japan.

Then, there was Budd and the apparent decades of sibling rivalry with his older brother. Whatever shit sat between those two men was beyond Vernita, but it was obvious that it was bad. Budd handled it by getting drunk as much as possible and further withdrawing himself from Bill…his only 'caring' relative. Vernita had always had a soft spot for Budd, and she hated to watch him drown himself in such a way; by doing so he was only proving Bill right about himself. But Budd was just as stubborn as his brother, and there was no swaying him from the choices he was making. He hid his emotional turmoil fairly well, but Vernita could see the anger and hurt simmering underneath. She only hoped it wouldn't be the end of him.

On the opposite spectrum was Elle, who moved in on Bill faster than a carnivorous hog to a dead body. It disgusted Vernita to watch it. It was pathetic, and she would have told Elle to her face had she ever found the woman in a room without Bill in it. Elle had always had a thing for Bill, that was no secret, but now that Beatrix was out of the picture it seemed that Elle was finally getting her chance and this time Bill seemed to welcome it…if not a little half-heartedly.

Elle and Bill. Yeah, Vernita didn't even want to think about that one. It gave her the creeps; far more than Beatrix and Bill ever had. Perhaps the coldest, loneliest hearts did eventually find one another. Although Vernita was pretty damn sure it was something far less romantic in nature than that with these two.

Elle's snide and sadistic attitude only got worse after she'd claimed her prize. She was also intolerably unpleasant when it came to the addition of Bill and Beatrix's child in her life and made no efforts to hide the trauma that the situation apparently caused her. Vernita was seriously considering pulling out her other fucking eye.

Lastly, of course, there was Bill himself; a fifty-eight year old man dealing with the trauma of being a single father for the first time in his illustriously brutal life. It would have amused Vernita had it happened under any other set of circumstances. He was quite nasty for the first few weeks after Two Pines; cold and short with every one. Vernita thought perhaps it was his way of dealing with the guilt he was feeling about Beatrix, but she would never have told him that. After B.B. came along his mood lifted drastically, but he usually was so tired he ended up acting like an asshole anyways. He seemed caught between his newfound affection for human life and the frustration of watching everything he'd worked for falling apart all around him.

But in the midst of all of this was B.B.

Unlike Elle, Vernita did not look upon B.B. as some living form of jealousy and spite. Vernita knew that B.B. was just as innocent as any child was. The sins of her parents were not B.B.'s fault. And Vernita treated the little girl, for the short time she knew her, just as sweetly as she would her own baby. She was a beautiful baby and Vernita loathed Bill for nearly killing his own child; unknowing or not. Vernita Green was not a good woman, not by a long shot, but she regarded children with a mother's eyes; not a killer's. Bill could love and cherish his daughter as much as he wanted, but that didn't change the fact that he'd nearly killed her before she'd even had a chance to be born. He could play 'daddy' pretty well, but god damnit he was still a murdering bastard. That was something Vernita would never be able forgive him for.

So, that was the state of Vernita's world when it suddenly took a jolting turn….about three months after the Two Pines massacre.

She and Lawrence had been seeing one another for almost seven months at that point, when on one of her usual trip's to Sacramento, the good doctor got down on one knee and asked her if she'd marry him.

Like many women, she'd been secretly expecting and hoping for that moment. It was perhaps the happiest day of Vernita's violent life. She didn't care how provincial it was; she really did want to get married and have a normal sort of life….that life she and Beatrix had half jokingly talked about all those years. Now, it was going to happen for sure.

So, of course she said yes. And then about three weeks after that, after a nervously made doctor's appointment, she found out that she was three months pregnant. Her and Lawrence had been fucking around since the beginning of course, what girl in her right mind wouldn't? So the circumstances of getting knocked up didn't really surprise her all that much. After a momentarily break down, she was elated.

Lawrence took the news well. He was even quite happy, after the initial shock of course. Vernita herself couldn't have been happier. Sure, she would have liked to have been married before she'd been knocked up…but shit…it had just happened, and that was the way it was going to be.

Lawrence insisted they get married as soon as possible at that point, since his Southern Baptist family wouldn't take too well to a visibly pregnant bride at the wedding. That suited Vernita just fine, best to get it all done and over with.

And so, Vernita's inevitable meeting with Bill was forced upon her a little sooner than she would have liked.

She flew in from Sacramento, after having just completed an assignment and spending a few days with Lawrence on the side. She took the familiar trip down to Mexico and pulled up to Bill's hacienda on a hot afternoon for what she was sure would be the last time.

When she knocked on the door Nikishi informed her that Bill was out back training.

So, she went out back…trying not to think too much about how he was going to react. He was out on the raised courtyard area, going through some complicated looking Tai Chi form in typical couth fashion despite the midday heat. Vernita had never really gotten into the whole Tai Chi thing, she was more of a fast paced training kinda gal herself, but she could appreciate the art form when performed by a seasoned practitioner such as Bill.

She watched him silently for a few minutes; arms crossed over her chest. He'd known she was there from the moment she stepped outside of course, but he continued on…making her wait. He looked tired, as usual….but she thought perhaps some of the bitterness there was beginning to fade away.

When he finally came to a stop and pivoted around to look at her, she offered him a bright smile that she hoped didn't come off as nervous. "Hi Bill……."

"Vernita," he nodded; returning her smile in a far less forced fashion before bending down to pick up a neatly folded towel from the ground.

She took a few steps towards the stone steps, giving him a few moments to blot at his perspiring face. "How's B.B.?"

He tossed the towel over his shoulder and descended the steps. "She's well." That wisp of paternal pride now emerged. "She continues to cry allot at night, and I still can't get her to crawl around on her own yet….but I will."

Vernita laughed a little. "It's still a little early for that….but I'm sure she will soon." Typical Bill; pushing even a baby to better herself beyond the typical parameters.

'So," he waved an arm in her direction, indicating she sit down on the stairs before he sat himself, "….the assignment went well I assume."

"Yeah, it was fine….usual shit." She sat down beside him. "But, nothing special….another dead asshole to bury."

"Hrm," he stared off across the sunlit yard, nodding. Then he fell silent; uncomfortably so. He'd been lapsing into these thoughtful silences more and more recently.

Vernita clasped her hands around her knees; attempting to muster up her courage. She didn't know really why she was so nervous. Yeah, Bill was a murdering bastard who had been known to exact his vengeance with a swift tenacity. But this was different; all she wanted to do was leave….and besides, she had good reason to.

"I…..." she began; licking her suddenly dry lips, "….there's something I've got to tell you Bill, and I don't think you're going to like it all that much."

He offered her a sharp side glance; smirking. "Vernita, I haven't liked most of what I've heard lately…….try me." Then the bitterness dropped away a little and he urged her on with a softer glimpse. "Go ahead…."

Without much thought now, she plowed on. "I'm out Bill……..I'm…I'm getting married…….I'm," she looked away for a moment, only turning back to look at him when she felt she was ready to speak again. "I'm also pregnant."

Bill's brows lifted fractionally, but his reaction was typically placid. "Ah, I see."

She placed a hand on his forearm. "Look…..I'm real sorry Bill….but….I want a family, and….I love this man. We want to start a life together." She paused. "I can't do this anymore." After that, she fell silent. That was pretty much all she'd wanted to say.

Bill didn't respond right away, instead he just continued to squint across the yard; fingertips idly brushing against the hem of his silk shirtsleeve. Then, he finally spoke up; so suddenly it almost made Vernita jump.

"You know I wish you wouldn't leave…….but I can't make you stay."

Vernita let out the breath she hadn't even realized she'd been holding. It was a relief hearing those words. But she also felt a flicker of pity. Here he was, watching his brainchild of an organization fall apart in his hands. She wondered, if under different circumstances if he would have handled it all differently. Maybe it was B.B., maybe he was finally feeling the weight of his life beginning to bare down. Or maybe……just maybe, he cared enough to let her go.

It didn't really matter now. What mattered was that she was now officially out. She knew Bill well enough to know he wouldn't go back on his word to her. Her time with the Deadly Vipers was now over.

She was just about to stand up, when he suddenly turned towards her and placed his hands on either side of her face. It was easy to flinch under that intense gaze, but Vernita could handle it. She stared right back at him.

"You are an amazing, beautiful woman Vernita," he began with surprising compassion, "….don't let the mundane world out there change that. And don't let that soon to be husband of yours turn you into just another faded, bored woman. I would be very sad to know that a woman such as you had traded everything you had, everything you could be…..for something that everybody has."

Sometimes Bill didn't always make complete sense to her, but for the briefest moment, Vernita could understand what Beatrix and Elle saw in a man like this. He was a very confusing person; both compelling and frightening. She was sure she'd never fully understand him, nor did she really want to.

"I won't," she replied in a whisper; simultaneously sure that that was a lie. In a moment of sudden sentimentality she pivoted around and wrapped her arms around his neck; embracing him with all of the affection that she felt for him. After all, he had saved her from a hard urban life and given her the knowledge and skills to become something extraordinary. She had cared for him when nobody else would. He'd seen her potential and made her believe in herself. She owed him allot, and she knew that.

She also loved him. She wasn't sure exactly what sort of love it was, but she did. She hoped he knew that, because she could never tell him.

"Thank you Bill," she whispered instead; kissing him on the cheek.

He said nothing, but returned her gesture with an equal amount of affection. Then, he pulled away from her; a small genuine smile on his face.

"Whenever you settle down in that quaint little house with its safe white picket fence, you call me and let me know where you are."

"I will." And she would, she owed that to him. Lawrence would flip if he found out a man like Bill was aware of her whereabouts, but he knew nothing of her past and like everything else, Bill would remain a part of that.

She stood….smiling, feeling a massive weight having been lifted. Her respect for Bill, despite his atrocities against Beatrix, was well intact. He had found it in him to let her go. Vernita wasn't sure he could be relied upon to let many people or things go, but he had let her go nonetheless.

He remained seated; looking up at her with an odd mixture of affection and pity; as if he felt sorry for her and her decision to give it all up for soccer practice and the minivan. But, she also thought perhaps a part of him understood now; parent to parent.

"Good-bye Bill," she offered as she turned to walk away towards the house; a dark muscular arm moving up to wave at him.

He replied with a typical egomaniacal wink and smirk; looking wholly the part of the confident bastard that he was. Maybe he really wasn't all that different after all.

She'd talk to him again, but she'd never see him again.

Vernita emerged from that house, got into her car and was well on her way to California within mere minutes. Her destiny awaited after all.

She was a changed person, or at least she wanted to be. Yes, she had some regrets already….many of them about Beatrix. And maybe she was even a little sorry about it, but that didn't change the fact that Beatrix would never be a mother to her child. She'd never know her beautiful little girl, and for that Vernita was saddened, because she herself would very soon have a child of her own. A child, a home, a husband…..all of those things that Beatrix had secretly wanted. It was fucking sad and fucking funny at the same time….depending on how you looked at it of course.

Still, it wasn't her fucking fault Beatrix had put herself in the position that she had. That bitch had done some bad shit…..and like all of them she had it coming.

So, Vernita Green did the best she could do to put it all behind her. And yeah, maybe they did all have it coming, but as far as she saw it….she was going to escape that fate. Let Bill and the others continue to play the game of death. As far as she was concerned, she had some baby clothes to pick out and a future husband to come home to.