So it hadn't started as the most typical date since she had the car and he was staying at her place but Hamish had convinced her to let him drive her to the restaurant all the same. She'd come down in a stunning red dress, perhaps the color Hamish thought she looked best in. That woman was something between a goddess and an angel, a little Aphrodites and a slight bit of Azriel angel of death. She always looked stunning but at times when she dressed up more she looked above stunning, above breathtaking, almost ethereal. Hamish put a hand in his pocket and offered her his arm with a little smirk.

"Oh, a gentleman I see."

"And a scholar." He added. As they started walking towards the door Hamish looked over to her seeing her sniff at him a little. It seemed like such an odd thing for a person to do but it made Hamish's heart race. Clearly she had noticed him catching her in the act and tried to play it off a little.

"Sorry, are you wearing a new cologne?"

Hamish furrowed his brows a little, "no actually, I'm not wearing any."

"Oh." Vera looked away from him trying to hide the red tint that came to her face. "You just smell nice."

He chuckled a little sort of realizing what he must sound like. He knew as a wolf he had a sensitive nose and Vera had a very distinct scent that he was just crazy about. Even without her powers Hamish felt like she smelled like magic, just pure magic mixed with a spring breeze and a warm summer night. "And you complain that I always tell you that you smell nice." Opening the door for her he grabbed her coat just in case she got cold tonight and she likely would, freeze baby. The car was parked in the driveway and with a swing of her keys he caught them in his hand and unlocked the car doors. He went over to her side of the car first opening her door for her and motioning towards her seat for her to get in.

"Am I going to have to get use to this with you?"

"Use to what? Me opening doors for you?"

"Yes."

Hamish was curious, did she not like him opening doors for her? "Only if you are alright with it."

Sitting down in the car she smiled up at him. "Alright with, yes, used to, no."

"Pitty, you deserve to have people hold doors open for you Vera." He stopped for a moment. "Just don't let that go to your head." He shut the door and went around to his side before getting into the car. It was an uncomfortable fit at first and Hamish had to fiddle with the seat to move it back since Vera's legs were not as long as his own. They did look far more attractive however, he wasn't ashamed to admit that it was easier for him when she was in pants because then he didn't have to keep staring at her nice legs that inevitably went to her equally attractive butt. Of course right now it was hard to keep his eyes off her as well. Hamish had to remind himself the road had to come first. "Are you alright Vera? You look a little pale."

"That's because I normally am." That was an accurate answer, Vera wasn't one who enjoyed sunlight that much, not that she was a vampire or anything. She was the sort who got heat stroke easily and seemed to burn in sunlight quickly so she just wasn't outside much. Of course Hamish did have great perception and no she didn't feel good all of a sudden but she didn't want to ruin tonight for him. If she mentioned she didn't feel good he'd insist they just stay in and watch a movie. The least she could do was suck it up for one night and let him have this one small victory of taking her out in public for dinner.

The drive was brief and they arrived to a fairly busy restaurant. Once Hamish had parked the car he'd gotten out just before Vera could open her own door and dashed around to her side. "You are so lucky you have so much energy." She smirked at him as he opened her door. It was also a slight jab because lately Vera had less and less energy. She enjoyed blaming it all on the constant nightmare she was trapped in. Ms. Dupree was still tedious to deal with since Midnight was constantly trying to convince her to rip Vera apart and Lilith was hardly still Lilith. Certainly she'd snapped into reality a bit more but she was pushing everyone away aside from Nichole. It wore on Hamish to have Lilith hate him, more so because of what the Knights had agreed to do in joining the Order. It seemed his plans to pull the knights back together wasn't going that well. Maybe it was a slight guilt that allowed her to give him at least this victory.

She stepped out of the car and followed him inside where Hamish asked for a patio seating. Where as Vera wasn't much for being outside, Hamish enjoyed it. Of course being outside at night was a bit different. The hostess brought them outside to one of the tables and seated them before handing them menus and going off to get them some water. First thing was first, the drink selection. Talk about compatibility, both Hamish and Vera reached for the drink menu, their hands touching as they both looked up at each other. "You first." He slid it towards her."

Most girls would have thought it was cute or sweet but Vera just pulled it closer to her and looked it over, "Damn right me first." She was Grand Magus after all. Once she figured out what she would have for a drink she slid it back to Hamish and folded her hands. Once their waitress came they both ordered their drinks, Hamish not at all surprised Vera was going with bourbon. If there was anything she liked more than him it was probably bourbon. Hamish on the other hand was feeling daring which was why he opted for an Indian beer instead. He wasn't ashamed of the fact he was a beer guy, Vera was too good for it but not him.

"So Vera." He broke the silence. "Potato queen?" Hamish wasn't going to lie, Vera had tribute to her life all over her house from news article clippings to posters from her prompt group and even a very very sad photo of her holding a little baby in her bedroom. He hadn't asked about it, he hadn't needed to since the moment he'd seen it Vera had rather protectively grabbed the picture off her dresser and put it away. They had both lost someone so important to them, they both knew a pain they couldn't describe though even Hamish couldn't imagine losing your own child, especially when you yourself were so young.

Vera was visibly embarrassed that he'd brought it up but if she didn't want him to pry into her life and her past she should have taken everything down in her house. "Oh dear god." Vera put a hand over her face shielding her eyes from him. "Yes, my senior year I was my county's potato queen."

"Well, I knew you held some pretty impressive titles but I wasn't aware nobility was among them. I'm not surprised you were a queen of any sort but potato queen? How do you become queen of potatoes anyways?"

She shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "You really had to bring that up? Well.." She patted her hands on the table. "It's sort of like a beauty pageant but with more intellect. Academics and community service were taken into account far more than appearances. It's just a fun thing that the different counties did to inspire girls to grow up to be good leaders and for a year you sort of act as an ambassador for your county and attended county fairs for speeches and did parades and helped the community." She rubbed her hands together looking away from him.

"That makes perfect sense, sounds like something you would have been into. I'm sure your parents were very proud of you." Hamish knew he'd said something very wrong when he saw the light fade from her eyes and her shoulders visibly drop. Oh no, why had he brought up family at all? He knew she was uncomfortable with the conversation about her daughter but it hadn't dawned on him that anything was wrong with the rest of her family.

"I don't…" Vera paused not looking at him. "I don't have parents. I spent most of my life in foster care. When I was two years old child services took me from my birth mother due to neglect. I don't remember her at all, I never even bothered to go looking for her either. I do have an older sister but we were separated because a family had wanted her. She got adopted but they had only wanted one child and since we were both so young they figured we wouldn't remember anything. I found her several years back but we don't stay in contact that much." Their lives had turned out so differently, Vera had never been adoptable because she never emotionally connected with people. It was a struggle for her even now with Hamish which was why her life had been a lonely one.

"I'm sorry Vera." Her voice had sounded so sad talking about it and he wished he hadn't brought it up but it was nice to know a little about her. The only problem was now Hamish wanted to hold her tight and never let her go. She didn't have to be alone and miserable forever. Of course she was still too strong and too proud to want to be vulnerable and let someone hold onto her the way he wanted to right now.

"It's fine." She recovered quickly from pain, not even a trace of hurt left on her face as she waved her hand like it was nothing. "I turned out just fine. If anything it was the driving force to make something of myself." Vera looked over the menu trying to avoid looking up at Hamish for a while, she didn't want to see him stare at her with pity in his eyes. Vera didn't want pity, pity made her feel like she wasn't strong enough to shoulder her own pain. "But then again as an only child of a wealthy family I'd say you likely know loneliness just as well as I do."

Hamish shook his head no, "Actually I have two sisters, one older and one younger but they did spend the majority of our childhood trying to force me to do tea parties and dress up and I always had to play the monster trying to attack them while they got to be princesses."

Vera raised a brow still refusing to look at him, "Well, that explains a lot."

"What, did you major in psychology?"

Vera finally looked back up at him with a little smile, "Actually yes, I double majored."

Well, color him very impressed, naturally he knew Vera was brilliant and driven but she'd double majored while also being in the order? No wonder why she had been the youngest person to rise to temple magus. She was even the youngest person to rise to Grand Magus as well from what he'd heard from Kepler once. Once their drinks came they both decided to order their food, Vera already sipping on her bourbon and clearing her throat before placing her order. Handing both their menus to the waitress he looked back at Vera having to keep quiet a little longer as the flames from a small gas powered fireplace behind her bathed her in a hauntingly beautiful glow that took him back to the first time he'd met her. The first time he's looked at her in firelight and discovered the then temple magus was hauntingly beautiful. He had to admit even back then he had a crush on her though his sworn oath as a knight complicated those feelings for him. "You are so beautiful."

For a moment Hamish didn't even realize he'd said it out loud because he hadn't meant to but once the words were out there it caught him by surprise. Vera looked up at him looking as shocked as he did. Hamish normally didn't voice his opinions on her appearance, more so he complimented her personality and her quirks or her skills. He loathed the idea of making it sound like he viewed Vera as an attractive thing to possess like some pet swan. "I'm aware of that."

She would have to say something like that, Vera didn't take compliments well. "You must have been interesting when you were attending Belgrave yourself."

Vera laughed rolling the glass of bourbon in her hand. "I was only a few years ahead of you. I'm not surprised you didn't notice me because you and I are far too different. You enjoy parties, I never did. I've avoided them after high school."

"Fair enough." Hamish reached over the table and took her hand in his. "However I think we have more in common than you realize."

Vera nodded her head, "Oh yes, we are both responsible for keeping a bunch of children alive. Despite the fact they seem eager to ruin their lives." Yes, that was very accurate. Hopefully the death count would get smaller though with them both being on the same side. Having Vera as a foe was unsettling to him now that he knew her. Not because he didn't like the idea of being her enemy but because since he'd learned more about her he realized she was the last person you wanted to piss off. Nothing on earth would ever stop Vera once she got going, unfortunately now she had someone who was trying to convince her to do the right thing more often than the most aggressive thing.

Once their food arrived Hamish almost instantly started digging in. He hadn't been someone who ate Indian food often but he had to admit Vera had great taste in food. Of course for someone who had apparently been dying for Indian food all day she was only just picking at it. The moment their food had come she had crinkled up her nose feeling a bit overwhelmed from the smells of all the spices and despite loving this place and just about everything they made she couldn't bring herself to eat anything. Her stomach felt like it was doing flips and slowly she pushed her plate away.

"What's wrong? I thought you were hungry." Hamish looked at her a little worried.

"I just don't..." She wasn't able to get much else out before she got up from the table covering her mouth and ran off. Hamish instantly dropped his fork and tried following after her but Vera could run in a pair of heels. A sinking feeling took over his stomach as he went into the restaurant, his heart pounding at a horrible thought. He went back to memories of his conversation with letting her care about her and asking her if she had used the fors factoram. She'd never answered him properly if she had but her silence had frightened him most of all. He knew eventually it would kill the practitioner who had used it, in months or in years and if Vera had used it was she starting to feel it's finishing effects?

Walking up to the woman's bathroom he waited for Vera, his fears growing more and more as he waited for her. It seemed like she was in there for a lifetime but as soon as she came out he could see her eyes were still watering. Had she been crying? "Come on, I'm taking you home." He grabbed Vera by her arm and rested another hand on her back. "Don't worry I'll pay for dinner. You go to the car and try to get some fresh air." There was nothing more terrifying to Hamish than watching her walk away. He realized for a moment that he was falling in love with Vera, no, he wasn't falling in love, he was in love and he might lose her just like he lost Cassie. Hamish didn't know if he could watch Vera die. He couldn't stand by and do nothing, there had to be a way to save her.