"Who's got Coreen?" Henry asked.
"Ma'am, you need to lie down please," the nurse tried to force Vicki back onto the bed.
"No, I'm fine, I need to go find her Henry, TELL them," Vicki gritted her teeth and widened her eyes trying to convince him to force them into letting her go.
"Vicki, I think you should let them check you out," he insisted.
"No, I'm fine!" she yelled trying to pull the different apparatuses they had connected to her.
"Vicki, I insist.."Henry growled.
"LIKE I said, you are not my father, Henry," Vicki remined him. Henry knew that was a touchy subject but couldn't ignore the fact that she was pregnant and he wasn't about to let that go easily. It was his child too after all, he had a right to an opinion about the health and welfare of his unborn baby but then again, this was Vicki he was talking to.
"No, but I am the father of your child, our child and I insist that you rest, let them check you out. Tell me where they are, I'll go get Coreen," Henry told her.
"How the hell should I know? I just..saw it I guess would be the best way to put it," Vicki sighed. The nurse tried to start an IV but Vicki jerked her arm away and scowled at her. The nurse put her hands in the air in surrender and exited the room leaving just Henry and Vicki in the room.
"Look, I know you're worried but I'm fine really. I just had a sudden rush of emotion at the morgue and it made me sick. I felt Coreen's emotions, I don't know why," she pondered out loud, "and then I saw his face. It's horrible, Coreen is scared shitless. We've got to find her quickly, Henry. He is holding her but not hurting her."
"How do you know this? How do you know she's not already..."
"DON'T you dare say it, Henry," Vicki's voice wavered a bit.
"Fine, but first, we need to go to the storage. Mike is on his way," Vicki's mouth fell open.
"You called Mike because I passed out? Thanks Henry," Vicki huffed out of the room with Henry trailing behind trying to figure out how he was ever going to find a middle ground with her.
"Let's go," Vicki called after him. The nurse started after them but Henry just shook his head and she backed away.
"Good luck to you then," he heard the nurse mumble.
"I'm gonna need it," Henry mumbled back under his breath. Henry was going to need more than luck he was sure of that.
Mike met them at the hospital doors with a very confused Kate in tow. When Vicki asked why she was there, Kate answered the question for him.
"I'm his partner, Ms. Nelson," Kate said curtly. Vicki shrugged.
"Whatever," Vicki brushed past her infuriating Kate that much more. Kate grabbed Vicki's arm and whirled her around.
"Oh shit.." Mike and Henry said in unison.
"I suggest that if you would like to keep full use of those fingers, you'll get that hand of off my arm," Vicki told Kate with such fire in her eyes that Kate knew she had crossed the line. Kate let go but stood her ground.
"Look, I have no idea what is going on between all of you, but I intend to find out. I'm sick of being left out of everything," Kate told Vicki.
"Fine, you want to know what's going on," Vicki took a step toward Kate and although she still felt a bit weak, her adrenaline kept her up, "I'll tell you everything. IF you can handle it, you can come. If not, you're out. Deal?" Vicki stuck her hand out. Cautiously, Kate took the offered hand and sealed the deal with a handshake grateful Vicki didn't twist her arm and flip her over.
"Vicki..uh..I don't think that's such a good i.." Vicki shushed Mike with a look that said "I don't care what you think" effectively shutting Mike up. He covered his face and sighed loudly, then crossed his arms while he watched what he was sure would be the worst day of the year play out before him.
"Here's the truth, the whole truth and nothing but.... Henry there, my...lover, partner and apparently now the father of my unborn child," Kate's mouth dropped open then closed in shock," is a vampire. A real, honest to God vampire. His sire, Christina, is dead, we hope and something is going around the city tearing into people's necks, draining them and tossing them to the side. Whatever or whoever this is has my assistant, my friend, Coreen and we have to find her but first, we have to go to the storage to see if Christina is really dead because Henry and this other vampire, who's now dead too, drained Christina to take to a place in Europe to a group of other vampires called the alliance because they wanted Christina dead because she was a threat to them and they feared exposure. Any questions?" While Vicki told Kate the story, she was very animated, rarely took a breath and when she finished, she crossed her arms preparing herself for an onslaught of questions and disbelief.
"Really. Alrighty then, let's go," Kate continued past Vicki toward the car she and Mike had arrived in. Mike and Henry stared after Kate. Vicki's face was frozen in shock as the three watched her act as if nothing freaky had just happened.
"Are you guys coming or what?" Kate asked over her shoulder.
"What the fuck? She didn't even bat an eye," Vicki said. She was disappointed. She really wanted to shock Kate, have Henry wipe her mind and get about their business.
"No, she didn't," Mike said thoughtfully and with a newfound respect for his partner. After pulling it together, they all got into their respective vehicles and headed to the storage container Jagger had rented.
"You think she knows something she's not telling US?" Vicki asked Henry.
"No, I hope she's just in complete and total shock and when she comes to her senses, it will be a bigger shock. I may need to wipe her and give her different memories," Henry answered but really wasn't sure himself that she was shocked, maybe just more open than they expected.
"Then again, maybe not. I'm learning that things are not always as they seem." Vicki sighed.
"About that, you do realize I was saying I love you to you and not Christina, right?" Henry asked softly. Vicki cut her eyes at him then stared straight ahead.
"You always feel something for your first love, I don't care if you did still love her, I'm okay with it. Whatever," she lied.
"I don't still love her. I haven't loved her for many years. She was a good person at one time, but not for a very long time. She'd forgotten what being human was like."
"And you? You remember so well because.." Vicki prodded.
"Because I chose to. Losing your humanity puts you out of touch with the world, besides.." he took her hand and kissed it," would you want me to be beastly all the time?" he asked as he smiled that sexy smile.
"No, just sometimes," she smiled back.
He would remember that but it would take his beast to save them all...