He'd mastered the technique of coming home as quietly as possible because if you thought Vera could be pissed off for taking everything out of her vault and then having it stolen from you then you hadn't seen her when you accidentally woke up the baby. Walking into the living room Hamish saw Vera laying her head on the arm of the couch as she pushed the little baby swing to put Theo to sleep. "Hey." Hamish could have the most stressful day and as soon as he saw Vera or Theo everything became perfect again. He crouched down next to the baby swing and took over swinging Theo slowly. She was sleeping or at least her eyes were closed. Normally that meant she was only considering falling asleep since as soon as he stopped rocking her she would probably just wake right up.

"How's the research going?" Without her powers and already less than ideal physical state Vera knew she had no business running around and chasing monsters but she'd be a liar if she didn't admit she still wanted to help.

"There are a surprising number of things that can kill and consume a human like that but I think we are narrowing it down." Theo whined a little, making him look over at her and try to slow down his rocking a bit more since apparently he wasn't as good at this as her mother was. Hamish wanted this to be over soon so he could have more time with them. Summer couldn't come fast enough. It was just his luck that something was killing people right before summer break too. "How is Theo?"

"Fussy." Hamish looked a little worried at that.

"Fussy like sick fussy or doesn't feel well?"

"No." Vera looked down at the baby who was furrowing her brows like she was concentrating on something. "She's dealing with general baby fussiness." Vera paused a moment. "And probably ringing." At least she didn't seem to be capable of turning over the ringing like the other wolves did before they learned control. "It's hard to tell since she startles at almost everything. She even startled when I sneezed and started crying."

Hamish leaned in a little closer to her, "Theo, you are supposed to be brave like your mother." She took a deep breath and did her little 'deep in sleep' sighs. "I guess everything is so new and confusing still." Hamish remembered almost everything she was experiencing these past two weeks were the first time she was ever experiencing them. Every loud noise, every new sight, everything others took for granted was new and scary and strange. "This thing out there, it makes me worry about her."

"Hamish, this house is well protected by wards I put up years ago." That only made him feel safe about someone using magic against them but what about Alpha, what about this creature, what about just any person coming up to the house? Her wards wouldn't have mattered if Alejandro had broken in.

"You need your powers back Vera, so you can protect her." He paused a moment. "Not that you aren't capable of it without them but, going through those books there are a lot of terrifying creatures out there. Werewolf or not she's so little, she's an appetizer for most of those things."

"Wait until she grows up." Theo might be a bite sized snack now but once she got big enough to be a werewolf properly Vera had a good feeling that few things would actually dare tangle with her. "Besides I think generally things keep away from the house because it smells very strongly of wolf now." She looked towards the back yard through the window. "Case in point I used to get deer and racoons and I don't anymore. Rabbits won't even come onto this property." It was a little like at the den as well, nothing living seemed to get too close to that house.

"Well…" Hamish leaned over the swing to kiss her and change the subject but apparently leaning over Theo had been enough to startle the baby awake and make her go off crying. "Uh oh, oh no, Theo." It really didn't make a difference if he tried to apologize, Vera already looked a little pissed with him. After all she was the one home with the baby all day and the only time she got rest was when the baby was sleeping. "I got it." Even after their deep dive into Vera's book collection looking for answers to what had killed that hunter he still had enough energy to deal with a crying baby. She was the least 'challenging' thing to deal with at least to him.

Picking Theo up from her swing chair he rested her up on his shoulder and rubbed her back while she kept screaming into his ear. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I know you were so happy sleeping until I had to wake you up." She started to settle down a little more and let out a heavy sigh. "You constantly sound so disappointed in everything." Hamish looked up at Vera. "She's the most cynical 2 week old I've ever met and she got that from you." Carefully Hamish got up on the couch next to Vera and sat down beside her wrapping his free arm around her.

"So what do we know about that creature? Something that sets it apart and narrows it down." Even when she wasn't supposed to be working she was working. Technically Vera was only on call since she couldn't take leave from being the Chancellor nor Grand Magus. She did have to work from home though since at the same time campus and the temple wasn't a great place for a fussy newborn. Being homebound was eating at her though, she didn't like sitting around. Vera was always a busy person and even if she still had a lot of physical recovery to do she just couldn't rest without a feeling of guilt.

"Well, we know this. It's restless, it doesn't stay in one place often and it's very aggressive, possibly terrifying. It's got an alpha complex too, very bossy." Vera looked over at him tempted to hit him in the chest though she stopped realizing he was still holding Theo. Instead Vera shifted her weight leaning up against hamish and resting her head against his chest as she ran her fingers over Theo's head to help put her to sleep. Hamish loved this too much, it almost made him want to give up being temple Magus just so he could be here like this with his two favorite people all day. But he had to protect innocent people, it's what the knights did. Whatever killed that hunter would be back for more. "That smell." Hamish finally got more serious letting her in on their research.

"I do remember that." It was harder to forget it when you had a strong sense of smell during that time and horrible morning sickness. Regardless, once we go back to the farm we'll know more."

"We will?" Hamish looked around the room a moment trying to find the other mysterious member of the 'we'. "Vera, you had a baby less than two weeks ago, you aren't going anywhere. It's not even the fact that you have no powers but you couldn't run if you wanted to right now."

"You underestimate my ability to bounce back."

"Okay then, you want to come with, run to the entryway and back right now." Hamish raised a brow wondering if she was going to accept that challenge. Vera raised her head off his shoulder and took Theo out of his arms holding her close as she tried to fall back to sleep. "That's what I thought."

"Who says I'm going to need to run anyways, isn't that what you are there for?" She knew he was protective of her and he was a werewolf. Vera would say with great pride that she didn't need Hamish to protect her at the end of the day, at least when she had her magic because she was a very intimidating opponent. However he and Tundra both guarded over her regardless. Sometimes from things that weren't even a real threat to her.

"Well…" He paused a moment and nodded his head. "I mean." Hamish wasn't going to answer that because he didn't want her to be in a situation where he was forced to protect her. "What about Theo? Theo is going to miss you." Yes, use the baby to guilt her to stay safe at home.

"Gabrielle said she's more than happy to watch her while I'm out, especially if I need time away. It shouldn't take more than two hours to get down there and look around. It hardly took me ten minutes to get from the trap door to the opening."

Hamish didn't know how much he trusted Gabby to watch his only child, his tiny newborn only child. Not that she wasn't capable but he sometimes feared what she was teaching poor Theo while they were both away. Still Vera looked up at him with those big beautiful eyes, those sad beautiful puppy dog eyes that he knew someday his daughter would use against him and just like Vera he'd be just as powerless. "Alright, but then Alejandro watches her."

Vera tensed up looking down at her now sleeping little baby, "Umm…" She didn't really like that idea considering he had tried to murder her before she was even born.

"I'm sorry Vera but I need Randal and Gabrielle on campus looking for whatever killed that hunter so it doesn't get a student."

"I would think Randal and Jack would be a better choice for the job."

"Actually, Jack is with us." After all, Silverback was the strongest of the wolves. If they got into a fight Hamish wanted their strongest wolf with them. Last time he'd gone underground he and Alejandro had gotten taken out by a small blonde. He was trying to be a bit more cautious with unknown creatures because it was clear now that werewolves were not the strongest creatures on earth.

"Alright, but if Alejandro so much as touches one…"

Hamish grabbed her arm and smiled at her. "Dear, he's not going to hurt the baby. She's more than safe with him." It was fair that Vera didn't trust him but he wasn't out to kill a werewolf pup. He had been so concerned with convincing Vera that their baby was safe with the same person who had tried killing her that he didn't even realize he'd pulled his first 'dear' on her. Vera on the other hand hadn't missed it.

"Dear?" Vera asked. "Since when did we start having such familial nicknames for each other?"

Hamish breathed out lifting a hand off the arm of the couch with a mild shrug to his shoulders, still keeping one arm around her. "Since I watched you give birth to our daughter." He motioned between them both. "We are after all a family now Vera, wouldn't you agree?"

She rested her head back on his shoulder again, "I suppose I could be comfortable with that notion." Perhaps she'd been so used to raising a daughter alone last time that it felt weird sharing Theo with someone else sometimes but Vera couldn't lie to herself, Hamish was a wonderful father. Since he woke up before her he was always up with the baby first thing in the morning so she could sleep more and he was always happy to help her when he was around. "Besides, I can see myself spending the rest of my life with you." Vera felt that comment would have been so much sweeter if she felt her life would be a long one. Unfortunately for her she worried her days were closer to their end than she'd like to admit. She wanted to see her daughter grow up, she wanted to spend forever with Hamish but fate wouldn't have it. She'd made her choice some time ago, to give up herself for the trade of power because she had nothing in life worth living for and worth losing. It was only her luck that towards the end of it she'd have everything she wanted to live for now.