His sister had told him that Vera was out on the veranda enjoying the view. It was a lovely sight, at least their parents had given him that growing up as a child. The forest around them was on fire, trees turning bright red and orange, a few dark hues of violet and pale yellows dotting the birch and oak forest around the house. It was a lovely sight and the glittering lake in the distance only added to its aesthetic. Opening the door up to the veranda he smiled a little seeing Vera standing there in a short black dress and holding a glass of champagne in her hand. She was settling in a little after the flight. At least she hadn't gotten into a fight with his mother yet so that was good news. Dammit, she was never going to stop being the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. Even after all this time knowing her, being with her, even having a child with her and still when Hamish saw her standing in the distance like that, the sun playing through her dark hair he felt breathless.

He cleared his throat, ever the nervous shy boy not wanting to approach the absolute breathtaking beauty and make a fool of himself. It was hard to do, after all Hamish had, her, a lot of people would say he didn't need to keep trying to fight for her and impress her but he felt like it was necessary. He always wanted to surprise her, never get old or boring to her because even if he had her heart today he didn't want to give her a reason to not want it down the road. Walking up behind her he still felt like that awkward boy just trying to do whatever he thought she wanted him to do just so he could get her to look at him, even for a moment. "This is one of the most beautiful views out here." Hamish spoke up and placed a hand on her lower back as he took up a spot beside her.

Vera turned to face him, her dark hair fallen over one shoulder while her long slender neck was visible. There was a point that Tundra would have liked nothing more than to rip that pretty throat right out but now the only thing he could ever think about doing to it was kiss it. "It's a very lovely view, I've always liked the forest in fall."

Hamish turned around leaning against the railing and smiling at her. "I wasn't talking about the forest." He had a little twinkle in his eye as he watched her. Of course he had been talking about her, she was the most breathtaking thing here.

"Of course you weren't." He loved that tone of voice she had, that same playful tone she used on him when they had their playful banter or when he had first started talking to her about the rupters. He knew he was the only one lucky enough to see that side of her too. Everyone else thought Vera Stone was a typical cold bitch but Hamish saw that soft and warm side of her, the playful side of her, the loving and caring side of her.

"I'm just enjoying this view." He reached out to her, grabbing her chin and feeling a sense of pride in Vera not pulling back or trying to push him away as he leaned in to kiss her. His hand resting on her hip as she stepped closer to him and resting her own arm over his shoulder. "I'm incredibly, horribly, hopelessly…" Hamish paused a moment resting his forehead against hers. "In love with the most impossible woman in all the world."

Vera smirked and shook her head, "Did you make that up all on your own or did you look that up in a book too?" She poked fun at his habit of reciting poetry to her like it worked. Truthfully it did, he was becoming a quick expert on how to get into her pants but the problem was she wasn't always necessarily needing him there.

"I stole it from Jack." He joked and leaned in to kiss her again when a voice rang out behind them.

Someone cleared their throat behind them making Hamish look up at his older sister holding his daughter. "Well Theo, I don't know about you but I'm sure someone will be thankful for what someone else is giving tonight." She held Theo up over her head shaking her a little back and forth and making the baby giggle. "Okay cool, you guys can get busy making another one and I'll keep this one." She laughed bringing Theo in closer to her. That kid was seriously the happiest damn baby ever, not super fussy even if Hamish seemed to think so.

"Oh hell no." Vera was quick to answer that, first off because she didn't want to have more kids. She reminded Hamish about that every time he even hinted another baby might be fun. In his mind it could be as fun as he wanted it to seem but Vera wasn't keen on going through all that for a third time. Two kids was more than enough to look after. Her other reason for the protest was that nobody was ever taking Theo away from her so long as she still had a breath left in her body. Hammish hadn't been wrong when he told Vera that Theo was so very special to her. He hadn't been wrong about Theo being born after having lost her daughter but not only that, Theo was born after another general difficult part of her life, the loss of her powers, Praxis, almost dying. Theo was the light at the end of a very dark tunnel for Vera and nothing could ever replace her.

Theo looked up at her mother letting out an excited scream and reaching out for Vera with a big smile. "I know, me too." Vera responded to her daughter with a smile. Sometimes after a rough day she felt the same way seeing Theo as well. Hamish had changed her once they got to his parents house into a more fall festive little outfit. Her onside was covered in oak and maple leaves in fall colors over the white fabric and on the front was a little fox and a little hedgehog throwing up armfulls of leaves. Vera hadn't liked that outfit in theory but seeing it on Theo kind of changed her mind. Of course it was hard for Theo to not make everything look adorable. Theo wiggled in her aunt's arms to get down to freedom, Vera walking towards her nodding her head no. "I don't think so, you don't need to be crawling around on the ground out here."

Emma still put Theo down holding onto her hands so the baby was standing on her feet. She was wobbly at first but once she found her footing Theo took step after step towards Vera while her aunt held her hands to keep her from falling down. She was getting down walking with assistance but she still couldn't hold herself up alone. Theo had a big smile on her face as she took step after step. "Dammit, I want another one now. Vera, why did you have to have such a cute happy kid. Why couldn't you have an angry screaming snot monster? My husband is going to kill me if I ask him to have another one, I just want a girl too." Emma was aware he would complain and drag his feet and say they had two young boys who were a lot of work but in the end he'd fold. Hamish always hoped eventually that would be Vera's outlook too but no, she really didn't like the idea of more kids to panic about.

"Don't fall for that cute routine, she can get really sassy. She takes after Vera too much, Theo is an absolute angel until you cross her line." Hamish commented about his daughter. She was a sweet little angel until she wasn't. Then she took after Vera and borderline frightened him and she was still a baby. Imagine when she was an angry grown up werewolf, she was going to give Lilith a run for her money. Once Theo got close enough to Vera she let go of her aunts hands and fell into her mother. Catching herself on Vera's leg she looked up at her with a big smile and slowly started falling down into a sitting position. Vera got down to pick her up so Theo wasn't sitting on the dirty ground, smiling when Theo threw herself forward into her arms and tried to hug her.

"See, I miss that. I miss getting hugs instead of being told off by strong independent small boys."

Vera wasn't going to lie, yes, she loved that Theo was a cuddle bug and yes she would admit she hoped she never grew out of that. "Oh don't get jealous, you don't have to change diapers on your kids anymore, I count that a blessing." She was actually looking forward to the day Theo was old enough to potty train and she could stop changing diapers. It was going to be a magical day for Vera to have one less thing to worry about.

"Yeah, or breastfeeding." Hamish spoke up like this was actually something that affected him, well, maybe it did a little.

Of course the death glare he got from Vera sort of said it all 'shut up because I might kill you.'

"Awww, Hamish." His sister was patronizing him a little right now. "I feel so sorry for you." His face almost instantly turned bright red, okay so maybe he was a little annoyed that Vera wouldn't let him touch them for millions of different reasons and all those reasons revolved around Theo. Fun killer.

"No, I meant." He was trying to save face a little. "That just means she gets to hog her more." Which was also true. He felt like Vera got all the fun alone time with Theo and their daughter saw him as a nice replaceable when mom wasn't home. "She throws a fit when you have to leave her but she could care less when I go every morning."

He wasn't wrong about that but Vera had spent the first few months of Theo's life working from home as much as possible and it was only until recent that she was leaving the house more and more. "Yes, Hamish that might be true but you know what else is true?" Hamish liked to think about all the negatives to Theo wanting to spend her time with mommy that sometimes he forgot there were points where the world revolved around him too. "Every day when you get home she gets really excited about it and wants to be with you for a solid hour and gets upset if I don't let her go get you right away." She'd crawl right to the door when she knew Hamish was home and scream for him and want him to pick her up. Even if she was used to him leaving in the mornings and was alright with seeing him go she was still excited to have him come home and hug him because she didn't get to see him all day long.

Hamish stopped to think about that fact, maybe the best thing about coming home was seeing that big smile on her face as she booked it towards him screaming and reaching up for him. "Yeah, she does." Theo visibly shivered in her mother's arms when a wind blew in, it wasn't exactly cozy outside right now. He stepped closer to Vera wrapping an arm around her to help block Theo from the wind. "You know, you are always so excited to see me come home too." Vera smiled at him and looked him in the eye holding her chin up.

"I have no idea what you mean." She teased him. "I am the picture of calm and refined. I'm never overly emotional about anything." Hamish kissed her on the neck making her shrug her shoulder a little. She bit down on her tongue trying to hide her smile and the fact it tickled a bit. Hamish had decided to let his chin hair grow out a little for 'winter' but it was more scruff that just got to her every time he started kissing her.

Theo looked up at Hamish giggling and drooling all over the front of her shirt, poor kid couldn't turn those waterworks off. She was just constantly a soggy little mess. Hamish was tempted to just keep a bib on her so at least she wasn't having wet clothes on all the time. "See, even Theo thinks you are full of it, don't you." Theo laughed again putting her fist in her mouth and looking away from Hamish while she shivered again from the cold. He rested a hand on Theo's back and pressed her up closer to Vera while she gnawed on her fingers and whined. "Yes, I agree with that, come on mommy, we should go in. The wind is making it too cold outside for this little noodle. She's going to get sick.

Vera looked up at Hamish with a little smirk on her face while he shielded Theo's face with his hand against the wind and tried to protect her from it as much as possible. Hamish always brought up that he had no freaking idea what he was doing as a parent but as far as she could see he was the best father Theo could ever ask for. Even if he did pull little pranks on her that frustrated their daughter to no end, he did the same to Vera too, Hamish was always doing his best to protect that little baby from everything. Even his sister Emma saw it, he'd always been good with his nephews but Hamish had really jumped into being a natural as soon as Theo was born. "Okay." She stepped before Hamish did so he could follow after her and partially block Vera from the wind too. He knew she was a freeze baby as well, it's where their daughter had gotten it from.

Emma followed them inside, closing the door behind them as her youngest came running up to her and demanding her attention now. With Theo around he was starting to get very clingy, normally he was more happy to be around his father but the baby was taking everyone's attention. Now he was suddenly a mama's boy all over again. Emma struggled to pick up her son since he wasn't a small little baby like Theo was. Now that the Vermish vermin was back with her parents Luke finally had his own mother back. "Oh, Hamish, by the way a few of your buddies are coming over tomorrow in the morning before dinner, they want to meet Vera and of course see Theo. Aaron told me to tell you he's stocking your Instagram and he thinks Vera's a fox."

"Well, she's really more like a cat I'd say. Very cute and sweet when she wants you to pet her but you have to be careful because she might bite after a while." Vera slapped him in the chest, it was such a second nature reaction that he'd done it once after he gave her a compliment and she had misheard him. "Very independent too, self sufficient, I don't worry about her when I'm away from her for long hours but I do worry about others around her."

"Well, if I'm a cat then you are a dog, obedient, stupidly cute, and very very clingy. I can't go anywhere without you following me around giving me those sad puppy dog eyes when I ignore you for too long."

Hamish acted a little offended by that but he'd had it coming for comparing her to a cat. "Well Theo, I guess that makes you a what?"

Emma shrugged her shoulders, "Whoa, that makes Theo a fox, foxes are like cat dogs."

Hamish smirked seeing Theo drool all over herself again when she pulled her hand out of her mouth. She drooled quite a bit on Vera too, as much as he'd say he wanted to hold her. He was kind of happy her mother had her right now. "And you have rabies too." Oh no, she was a rabid werewolf, now what were they going to do? "We should have them over after dinner too, we can watch a corny holiday horror movie."

Instantly Vera was trying to check out of the conversation. "That's fine, I'll hang out with Emma doing something more exciting than that."

"You should braid each others hair." He knew Vera was squeamish about scary movies. It's why Madox had become his movie buddy and when he watched something with Vera it was a comedy or a feel good movie. For a woman who threatened murder a lot she was a real softie. Violence was not her thing, there was some serious irony to that. If anyone else knew about that it might crush her reputation of being the cold and deadly ice queen.