The car ride to the house was quiet and awkward. Maybe less awkward than had she been the one to go get Maddox for his father to murder. Maddox just sat in the car looking out the window and tapping his fingers against the middle divider. "So, did you know my father?" He finally asked Vera.

"Yes, I worked with him."

Maddox looked up at Vera looking a bit tired. "You mean, you were a member of the Gnostic Council like aunt Bitsy?"

"Yes actually." She answered feeling a bit uncomfortable. She'd almost forgotten that Edward had been open about magic with his son. Vera didn't know how she felt about that same concept with her own child. On one part it would be very helpful and maybe easiest but on the other hand Vera wanted her daughter to have a normal childhood.

"And now you are the Grand Magus?"

Wow, even more uncomfortable. "I am."

"Is aunt Bitsy ever coming back?"

Could they just go back to silence? Vera thought maybe this would have been nicer to have a conversation and get to know him better but now she wanted him to shut up. "No, unfortunately Bitsy is dead." Vera wasn't going to lie to him, he'd had enough of that from everyone else.

"Oh." Oh? That was it? Vera looked at him a moment wondering if he was alright. "That's sad." He went quiet again. "Do I still have to do fencing?"

"Do you want to go to fencing?"

"Not really, I hate it."

"Okay, then no."

Maddox looked over at Vera and nodded his head. "So, what am I supposed to call you?"

"Ummm…" She pulled up to the house. "Vera? You can just call me Vera if you want."

"Okay." This kid was pretty chill, not surprising after the life he'd had. Pulling up into the driveway she parked the car and got out before popping the trunk. Maddox followed her looking at the house and nodding his head. "Your house is small."

"Well." Vera pulled his luggage out of the trunk and set it down. "I don't believe in over indulging. You don't really need more than what is necessary."

"Does that mean you don't have internet too?"

Closing the trunk she let out a sigh, "No, we have the internet." Vera was starting to realize babies were so easy to please. They were just happy to be alive, happy to have you pick them up, happy to eat and sleep. She walked up towards the house and opened the door while dragging the luggage behind her. What child needed this much stuff? Vera would ignore the fact that Theo pretty much had taken up half their closet thanks to Hamish. Apparently Hamish was under the impression that a house not covered in baby things wasn't a house for his daughter. "Hamish." Vera called out for him though she saw him already in the living room on the floor with Theo.

Vera set the luggage down and walked into the living room. "Please take off your shoes." Being a clean freak was about to get more difficult. "This is Hamish, you can call him Hamish and that is Theodora, you can call her Theo. Don't mind her, she can't bite...yet."

Maddox looked at Theo as Hamish picked her up and held her. "She looks like a pug."

Vera raised a brow and looked a little offended. "Well, she's not." In fact there was a slight discomfort right now. "Just, leave her alone. Hamish and I will take care of her if she needs it."

Hamish handed Theo off to Vera and ran over towards the doorway down into the basement. "Hey, Maddoix, do you want to see the big screen TV and the playstation downstairs?"

"Yeah." He put his bags he'd been carrying down on the ground. "What games do you have?"

"Depends, what games do you want to play?" Oh thank god Hamish could handle this child. Vera was about to sit down with Theo when Maddox looked back from behind the door.

"Vera, are you coming too?"

She sighed and looked at Theo, "I guess."

Hamish was happy to show Maddox around the 'dude den'. "This is the tv, smart tv, we have playstation and xbox and a switch. We also have Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus and cabal. Every saturday is family movie night, we watch kid friendly movies with Theo at around 7 since she pretty much goes to bed during them and afterwards we crack out the scary movie." Vera looked at Hamish and shook her head no. "Well mostly just not kids movies but we can do more scary movies if you like scary movies. Vera's a chicken so she doesn't like to watch them."

"I like scary movies, especially zombie movies."

"We should watch Zombieland, Vera it's not scary enough to bother you."

"I love Zombieland." Hamish looked like he was in his element with a ten year old boy. This was really odd. Normally when she saw him being a good dad to Theo and impressed her with his baby care skills it was a bit of a turn on for her. This however, not so much. It was strange seeing your partner get along so well with a ten year old and then realize he was kind of a big kid sometimes. "Is it okay if I play something?"

"Oh yeah, look through my game library, I have a lot of fun games in there." Hamish walked over to the bar as Vera put Theo in the baby swing next to the couch. Turning it on she stood there a moment as Theo started closing her eyes. Walking up to Hamish she put a hand on his hand and smiled up at him. "He likes you."

"You think?"

"Yeah, kid's that age if they want to have you around, it's a crush."

Vera looked back at Maddox and looked back to Hamish raising a brow. "What?"

"Yeah, you sort of have the hot teacher vibe."

"No." Vera sat down on the bar stool and crossed her legs as Hamish looked down at her.

"Grand Magus vibe." He kissed her neck making Vera shrug him away. "My most beautiful partner."

"Not with the kids around Hamish." She pointed at the tv. "Go help him with that."