He hadn't expected hearing the fast paced rhythmic whooshing sound to choke him up so much. He'd gone to the first appointment and saw what honestly hadn't looked like anything much on the screen but it still gave Hamish a sense of pride and excitement looking at the tiny motionless blob that was destined to grow up and be his future son or daughter. And while Vera got the full extent of how 'real' this was with little flutters here and there and a physical experience with their baby Hamish just had to sit down and wait and imagine a world where he could see, hear, and feel his own child. Today was one of those days with the quick paced sound of its heartbeat and the actual flicker of that heart on the screen.

Fluffy wasn't just a shapeless motionless blob either but rather the silhouette of an actual human baby and apparently werewolves at every age were highly active since Duke jr had nothing better to do in life than kickbox an invisible force. They were active enough he almost jokingly wanted to ask if the kid was his or Randals. Apparently the aww struck and fawning over Fluffy wasn't reserved to just him. Vera was always one tough cookie and frankly a seasoned pro when it came to baby having, sort of. At least unlike him she had the advantage of this not being her first first time. She had a basic idea of what to expect where as Hamish was completely in the dark and just accepting of whatever happens next.

Still even now Vera was a little weepy and it was understandable, Fluffy was damn cute. Little kickboxing, ear grabbing, big headed bundle of cute. What got him most is even if he couldn't see their features that well he could admit their current profile looked a bit like Vera with the same cute pointy nose. How was he actually going to ever discipline a kid who looked like Vera? He felt like his child was going to have a better shot intimidating him. Hamish was so distracted by watching their baby on the screen that he had almost forgotten he was holding Vera's hand until she gave it a little squeeze. "Ground control to Major Tom?" he heard her voice and smirked a little, David Bowie? Could she be any more sexy?

"Sorry, I'm so enchanted by her right now I can't even…"

Vera smiled looking at his face, he was so absolutely precious getting all soft of gooey over their baby. She'd been so terrified when she'd first found out, after all the last time she'd had a child it had been on her own since her daughters father hadn't wanted anything to do with either of them. Vera had made her choice to not keep this baby only because she refused to go it alone again. Then Hamish had done nothing but throw a one man pity party and started coming up with names. It had been a big gamble telling him that she was keeping the kid and she knew when she had made that choice it was made understanding if she ended up raising their baby alone then so be it. However Hamish made it so painfully clear that he was more likely to be a 'hover mother' than she was. "That's alright, it's hard not to be enchanted by that face."

"I know right? She's the second most perfect thing in this world, followed of course only by you." Hamish kissed the back of Vera's hand and wondered if she could ever get more magnificent than she already was. Of course he was probably biased about how amazing Vera was and she did have the advantage of the second trimester baby glow working for her. "Also if you are right and that's a little girl then I really need to figure out what we can do to protect the entirety of the male population on earth." Vera laughed a little clearly agreeing with him, oh no, their kid was going to be dangerously beautiful. "I can't wait to hold her, has it been 40 weeks yet?"

After their appointment Hamish made Vera wait inside the building while he went to get the car and let it warm up a little. Typical of the average New England winter it was cold outside and there was a lot of snow on the ground after the last snow storm. For a while he'd assumed winter would skip them this year. Walking out to the car he imagined what next year would be like with their baby, they could go out trick or treating next year granted the baby would only be 5 months old by then so not like she would actually want any candy but still it would be cute to dress her up like Little Red Riding Hood. What about Christmas? Would she be old enough to appreciate Christmas next year?

As he started the car up he looked into the park nearby seeing a few kids throwing snowballs at each other and playing 'pick on the nerdy lanky kid'. Yeah, Hamish wasn't a fan of that game since he used to be the nerdy lanky kid. Jokes on them, look where he was now. He was a freaking werewolf with a hot witch as his partner and mate. Hamish couldn't wait until he could play with his kid outside in the snow, maybe even someday kids. He wasn't going to push it because obviously it was Vera's body and thus Vera's choice but one boy and one girl would be a great combination. Just one of each with all their mothers sass.

Hamish pulled up close to the front doors and got out trying to race around the car to open the door for Vera. Sometimes they ran a bit of a race, at times Vera would get to the door first and get through it just as he got there then look at him like 'what the hell are you doing?' Other times she'd actually wait for him to open the door and it seemed today she was alright with him being chivalrous. Once she was buckled in he closed the door double checking he didn't snag her coat in the door. Vera and her long coats, he wasn't complaining, they looked great on her but he had a bad track record with her coats.

"So I was thinking of Agnes." Hamish was trying to bring up the conversation again on baby names. Call him crazy but he wanted to kind of not have their baby called Fluffy by everyone even if Randal had said technically it was a good nickname since babies were covered in hair before birth which just made Hamish think their child had a thick werewolf coat on in there. Uncomfortable.

"Oh my god Hamish no, Agnes is such an old ladies name." Vera rested her head back against the seat.

"Margot?"

"If you want a total snob." Vera looked out the window a moment, everyone had their house decorated for the holidays and here was Vera, trying to avoid putting up a Christmas tree. Hamish was trying to push them more into some holiday traditions but her holiday tradition had always been sitting down with a bottle of champagne and a romance novel. There would be no champagne this year. "I have a name I really like but I know for a fact you are going to hate it."

"Really? I don't know, maybe I'll like it, try me."

"Okay, I really like the name Theodora."

She would like a big and otherwise unusual name like that. "That's certainly a statement. Theodora Duke? The good thing is in general she has a short last name."

"And Theo is a cute nickname." Vera was trying to sell him on the name. "Theodora Margot Duke?" Vera bit her bottom lip and raised her brow, was that going to make it any better?

"Thats'..." Hamish drummed his thumb against the steering wheel. "That's a name." His mother used to tell him that you should always test a name out by yelling it from the front porch because eventually that's what you would be doing. If it sounded bad yelling it in a neighborhood then it was just a bad name. "But I admit Theo is cute. Not a typical girl's name but still cute."

"You know Theo is the name of a girl who gets things done, who can be tough and smart and take charge."

Hamish cracked a smile trying not to take his eyes off the road as he glanced over to her for a moment, "I thought that was Vera."

She brushed her hair behind her ear and smiled back at him, "No, Vera is the sort of name you give your daughter if you want her to run a secret society and weed out incompotent practitioners."

Hamish leaned in a little closer to Vera, "Well Fluffy, we are going to have to name you Vera Duke." He paused a moment. "That's a very pretty name."

She knew what he was trying to do and she wasn't having any of it. "So is Vera Stone."

"Sorry baby I tried." He was talking more to her than the baby, obviously.

"Just because your parents called our unborn child a bastard doesn't mean we need to get married to fix their view of me nor you and most certainly not the view they have on their own grandchild."

"Well my mother didn't technically say bastard, she called her a happy accident."

"To be fair she isn't wrong. It's not like we were trying to have this happen."

"It's also not like we were trying not to have this happen."

"Technically I did try not to, I was on birth control. It just...fell out."

That was one of the number one problems with having fun with Vera Stone in every unsanctioned place where she said she had rules against kissing in the temple, but not having sex in the vault, on her desk, against her bookshelf, in the reliquary, at least the altar was a hard no. "Well then maybe Vera you need to stop having the sex drive of a Freshman."

"Sure, right after you stop trying to get in my pants like a frat boy." Okay, he had to take that because it was a little true. He hadn't made her all those drinks because he was a boy scout. Pulling up to the house Hamish parked in the driveway and got out first to double check he'd put salt down this morning since the place had been pretty icy in the morning. Satisfied it was slip safe Hamish went to open the car door only to hear it slam shut. Well, there you go, Miss independent don't need a man to open her doors.

Following at a distance Hamish stayed quiet wanting to wait to see what Vera said when she got into the house. "Hamish, we've been reverse robbed."

"What?" Okay that hadn't been the reaction he'd expected. Following in behind her he was actually pretty proud of the wolves and their good job putting up some Christmas decorations though he'd be honest, Alyssa was probably the cause of most of it. There were some garlands on the stairs, stockings hung over the fireplace even if it was an electric fireplace who cared. Near one of the big windows was also a live undecorated pine tree and freaking Randal. Hamish looked up at the mistletoe over the entryway. Yeah, he had only done that for general chaos because Hamish said he was going to try and talk Vera into a small and tame Christmas party. Reaching up Hamish actually grabbed the mistletoe and pulled it down from where it was hanging.

"What the hell happened to my house?"

"Surprise." Hamish did slight jazz hands though it ended pretty quick when Vera made a low growl. "Hold up Vera, you don't like it?"

"No, I don't, can we take it down please? It's my house, I wish you would have at least asked me before doing this." Vera started walking into the kitchen a little upset at the whole damn christmas village displayed at the top of the cabinets.

"Well if you don't like the style we can change it. It's not a big deal."

"No, I don't want any decorations and I sure as hell don't want a tree." Vera went over to the couch and sat down laying back against the arm as she tried to destress.

"Scrouge, what's up with the bah humbug? Why the hate for the holidays?"

Vera snapped at him a little, "Because." She paused sitting back up. "Because the holidays have never been a good thing for me. They were just always a reminder that I was alone and that I don't have a family. Everyone has these big elaborate parties, students leave, the acolytes go home over winter break and I just...I'm here again, every year."

Walking over to the couch he sat down next to her and put an arm around her. "You have a family Vera, I'm your family now." He put a hand on her little baby bump, still at the point you didn't offer her congratulations because it wasn't too obvious yet and people didn't want to be offensive. "Theo is your family too." He pulled her down closer to him, Vera resting her head on his shoulder. "And you won't be alone this year. I would rather be here with you Christmas morning than with my parents. I would like having my sisters around too but I can live without them. I want to make Christmas as magical for you as it was for me growing up because next year we have to make it magical for this little pup."

"Hamish, I don't know how to be in a family." She admitted to him.

Pulling her up into his lap he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her neck. It hurt him to learn a little more how Vera became, well Vera. She was a good person who just never had anyone there for her. It made her one of the strongest people he knew but it also made it hard for her to let people in and feel comfortable in situations like this. He pulled her hair over her shoulder and pulled her in for a hug leaning back on the couch a little more. "That's okay, you'll figure it out, one step at a time. I'll never ask you to be perfect right out of the gate Vera, your own pace is just fine and if I'm honest you are better being in a family than you think. We have been pretty domestic for a while now."

"That's true."

"And you are a great mom to Theo, everything you do is out of consideration for her well being. From what you eat and drink, even how you sleep. I'm going to be honest I would not have that kind of strength because I love sushi and I know you love sushi and you love bourbon and you are giving them all up for her. You even didn't come to a potentially dangerous ritual for her. You are an astonishing mother and she hasn't even been born yet. She has no idea how lucky she is."

Vera sniffled a little trying not to cry because right now he was going to make her cry. "Also, I happen to know you care about all your kids and as hard as you can be on them they have no idea how lucky they are either because they have perhaps one of the fiercest women I know behind them and as daunting as you can be when someone tries to hurt them you are the best person to have behind them." Hamish kissed her again, brushing a tear out of her eye. "And I am so excited to share the holidays with you. I told them not to decorate the tree because I wanted to decorate it with you."

Vera looked over at the tree, "Well, I guess it can stay then."

Hamish smiled, "And I'm pretty proud because I found a building that looks like Belgrave University for the Christmas village." Hamish pointed up to it.

"That's very, interesting."

He felt like he was on a roll now. Getting up he walked her over to the fireplace. "And I got us all stockings, see yours has golden snowflakes on them because you are the Grand magus and you are generally just magical and mine has a puppy on it because they didn't have one with wolves. Oh, and this one is Theo's" He pulled off the small stocking shaped like a pawprint. "It's actually for cats but I figured since Theo is just a fetus this year she probably won't need anything in her stocking but I still wanted to represent her in the household."

He held the small stocking up to Vera's belly. "See Theo, this is where your stuff can go for Christmas which is just going to be a metaphorical placeholder for my love. You can get a bigger one next year."

She was trying so hard not to smile or think he was being a dork but it was hard, Hamish put a smile on her face even when he wasn't trying. "I'm sure she appreciates it."

"See Vera, not all change is bad. Plus I need something to do because Tundra is getting very nesty and we aren't putting together a nursery yet. It's the only thing I can do to stop myself from going into the woods and digging a big hole."

"That's…" Vera didn't actually have anything to say about that one, at least he was being honest with her. "Different."

"Or killing deer and dragging them home for you."

"Please don't do that."

"Not necessary, I fight that particular urge by just bringing you food."

Well, that explained why every few hours he was bringing her snacks in her office. Before she wasn't ever eating them because it had been hell trying to keep anything down but she did appreciate it more these days. "Fascinating." Was she going to have to write a book? How to deal with your werewolf partner during a werewolf pregnancy? Accept food they bring you with a smile and watch out for big holes in the yard. Sound advice. "Maybe we should just decorate the tree now." Before things got weirder and she asked him to leave. Not that she would because it was cold outside and she did need something to cuddle with tonight. He was so freaking warm she could save a fortune on heating bills just by letting him spoon her.