Another beautiful morning praying to the porcelain goddess. Vera sat up and rested her elbows on the seat and rested her head on the heel of her palms. She was just waiting for this shitty morning routine to go away. "You know it's supposed to be worse if you go to bed with an empty stomach." Vera startled hearing the woman's voice, almost forgetting that Hamish's parents were here visiting. Looking behind her she got back up off the ground still wearing nothing but Hamish's t-shirt and a pair of his boxer briefs that were really more like shorts for her. The woman who she now knew as Miranda handed her a glass of water which Vera reluctantly took. "Don't worry, it's not like a poisoned it." Now Vera was very suspicious and nearly put the glass down on the floor beside her. "You are kind of a paranoid one aren't you?"

"I've learned not to trust easily." Vera responded, after having a member of the Gnostic council wind up dead and another try to kill her you couldn't blame her for having trust issues.

"Honestly if you think I'd poison my own grandchild you have more than just trust issues." Vera waited a moment thinking maybe she had a point. Taking a sip of the water Vera waited a moment before setting the glass back down next to her. "Don't tell me you intend to spend your whole morning on the floor of the bathroom?"

"That's what it feels like most days."

Miranda smiled a little and picked up Vera's glass of water before reaching down to help her up. "You need some fresh air. Meet me on the balcony."

Vera flushed the toilet and took a minute to wash her face off before finally heading out to the balcony. It was cool outside meaning she wasn't exactly dressed well for the brisk autumn morning. The table and chairs outside were also still damp from whatever rainfall had come down the night before. Sitting down in one of the chairs Vera pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around them to keep warm. She looked out over the town admiring the beautiful view from up here. Though she'd been here plenty of times at night she hadn't come out here in the morning. Ordinarily Vera was heading out in the morning. Around downtown this time of year everyone was setting up for the approaching holiday season, something Vera had always hated and for good reason..

"Are you cold, need me to go grab a blanket for you?" Vera looked back to Miranda, her eyes pulling away from the trees turning to beautiful hues of orange and red.

"No, I'm fine thank you."

"You know it's going to get a lot better in a few months dear. The worst won't last much longer for you."

Vera picked up the glass of water that Miranda had set down on the table for her and took a sip. "I know." This wasn't her first rodeo but she wasn't about to tell this stranger about her dead daughter. She couldn't even talk to Hamish about it that much. It was too close to her and would forever be a soft spot. "Easy to say that when you aren't dealing with it." She finished drinking the glass of water and set the glass back down on the table.

"So how did you meet Hamish?"

Vera didn't like this, she didn't like someone poking into her private life. All her life she'd never been questioned since she's always reminded others that she was the one who asked the questions. Even as a child her foster mother wasn't big on trying to figure out what she was doing with her life, just waiting until Vera could get out of it. "I met him on compass. He asked me out for drinks once and one thing led to another…"

Secret society aside Vera felt regardless it was a bad idea to say she met him a year ago and teamed up with him to stop a common foe only to erase his memories of the events for a whole summer only so she could start sleeping with him when she thought he still didn't have those memories. It made her sound like a bad person and perhaps she was but that didn't stop her from sleeping with Hamish even after she realized he remembered everything. In fact it probably started happening more often afterwards. "And how long have you known him?"

Slowly she was feeling more uncomfortable from these questions but Vera would play along for now. In a worst case scenario she could always just use a…. On second thought she didn't want to accidentally kill her child's grandmother with an overzealous spell. "About a year, or at least we met a year ago." She wasn't going to say that this whole sleeping together had only really started in August though because again it made Vera look a little bad.

"And do you really love him or are you just staying with him because of the baby?"

That question hurt, Vera looked at her narrowing her eyes at Miranda suddenly wishing she had just poisoned her water. Truthfully? Vera would still be sleeping with him if they didn't have the baby but she wouldn't have let him in so much. They might have maintained a relationship but eventually Vera didn't know with all the trials how it would have held up. She imagined eventually it would die down and she'd be the one to end it to protect him from herself. But did she love Hamish? Vera swallowed hard and looked away from Miranda. "I don't know."

"At least you are honest." She sounded a bit harsher now. "I just want you to know as one mother to another." Vera felt a sting of pain at those words. She knew that Miranda meant it by being the mother of Hamish's child but all she could think of was the daughter she had lost and her feeling that she stopped being a mother that day because it was her fault she hadn't been able to save her. "I love Hamish greatly and I would do anything for him. You'll learn that some day with your child. I'd do everything to protect him and if that means protecting him from you then I will. If you break his heart Ms. Stone I can safely inform you that there isn't a place on this earth that can protect you."

Vera laughed a little. That seemed so funny, this woman had no idea who she was threatening. Vera wanted so badly to blow this little witches bubble and just drag her across the ground because she could. Standing up Vera was just about to put her in her place, after all Vera would play nice up to a point. After that she was still the Grand Magus and the Chancellor of Belgrave. Nobody, not even Hamish's mother would threaten her life. She clenched her fist and took a breath about to give her a wonderful speech when a sharp pain pierced her side. "Ouc…" She bent over putting her hand over her stomach, her head almost resting on the table from the hot internal burn.

"Vera." Miranda got up to check on her. She didn't want her help, she didn't need her help.

"I'm fine, it's just a cramp." Vera lied. That timing was almost too perfect making her wonder if someone hadn't just tried to stop her. 'You little shit', she thought to herself internally. The pain subsided when Hamish started to scream, Vera standing back up and brushing her hair out of her face. She gasped instantly running back into the apartment and towards his bedroom. Swinging open the door she saw Hamish flailing on the bed, still asleep as he arched his back, his nails erupting from his hands and teeth changing to the sharp pointed fangs of his wolf self.

There was a calculated risk in approaching a clearly upset and unconscious wolf. It was a risk Vera thought of for a moment before going into the room. "Hamish, easy Hamish it's just a nightmare." He slashed in her direction with a claw missing her only because she had jumped back. His nails went down into his pillow ripping it open and showing her he wasn't just having a bad dream, he was having a panic attack from his dreams. Once his claw swung at her again Vera cried out feeling a sharp pain in her shoulder but it didn't stop her. She grabbed his wrist and despite his strength got onto the bed with him and held his hand down over his chest.

"Hamish wake up, you're having a nightmare." She tried shaking him awake at first but he wouldn't open his eyes. Still holding his wrist as he tried to fight he Vera leaned in closer to him whispering into his ear and making him wake up, his heart still racing, his eyes flickering from silver and back to their beautiful blue hue. His claws reverted back to normal fingernails while he looked up at Vera finding her the comfort in his storm. Vera hadn't even noticed Miranda walk up to the room as she held his hand in hers now, brushing her fingers through his hair. "It's alright, it was just a bad dream. You're here now with me, you're safe."

Miranda smirked a bit before walking into the room with them. "Oh Hamish." She reached out to her son. Vera backed up a little trying to give the mother and son space, all the easier when she flinched in pain that shot through her shoulder. Grabbing hold of it Vera pulled her fingers away seeing a slick red tint to them. "Umm…" Vera got up from the bed. "Hamish I have to go, you have him don't you Miranda? I just remembered, god I have a faculty meeting today and it completely slipped my mind. I can't miss it, obviously. I'll see you again later I'm sure." Vera grabbed her dress from the corner of the room and started heading for the bathroom. Once inside she pulled the shirt back seeing three long claw marks starting from her neck and going down to her chest. "Oh no."

She couldn't let Hamish know he'd done it to her, if he knew he'd hurt her he would never be able to face her again. He'd never forgive himself. She knew his staunch set of morals and she knew attacking your pregnant girlfriend was probably the top of the list for things he never wanted to do. Accident or not he wasn't the sort to accept things just happened. Pulling the shirt back over the wound she was thankful at least it was a dark blue shirt and the blood wasn't showing through. "Great, werewolf wounds don't heal quickly either. Just Perfect."