Running Away ((Blair1216&&Lady_Squall_Lionheart))

Vera smirked a bit. "Punished, huh? I hope it's the kind of punishment I like..." She grinned and stood up, crumbing the empty candy bag in her hands on her way to the kitchen. She began to fix her own plate of food, thinking over what he said. Of course, she took it all wrong. She assumed he meant that he didn't want to have children at all, not that he was worried about genetic problems.

"Well, I mean, there is always adoption," she admitted, though she frowned at the idea. Honestly, it was the best thing she could do for the kid. Being born to a young woman on the run, who was practically living with a stranger, was not how a child should come in the world. However, it was also hard to think about actually going through with an adoption.

“Definitely punishment I’ll enjoy. You might like it.”Jason said looking amused before frowning a little as he studied her, trying to figure out what she wanted. “If that’s what you want. House is probably not the safest place for them, and I’m definitely not safe around a kid.”he said despite not hurting her, at least no more then she wanted to be during sex, the man was totally neurotic and kept expecting to hurt her, much less a defenseless child. He thought while a kid would be fun around, he couldn’t be trusted. And he wondered if that’s what she thought to, and why she’d brought up adoption. Not realizing it had been his own words that had made her think of it.

"It's... something to think about," Vera said, walking back into the living room with her plate of food. The look on her face said it all - that she was not to sure about giving up her baby. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more she unintentionally put her hand on her stomach, as if her subconscious was protecting the child within... After a few moments, she began to eat. The whole time, all she could think about was her, Jason, and this unplanned baby, and how all of them were going to be able to fit together. "It seemed impossible, but maybe... maybe it would work. Sure, she knew Jason had walls up so high that she would never be able to break them down, but he was honorable. Much more honorable that she ever thought he would have been.

"Or, you know, houses can be child-proofed, right?" she said, eyeing him with curiosity.

Jason shrugged. “It is.”he said agreeing, wondering about the twinge in his chest, wondering about why he felt upset at the idea of giving away the child, as if he’d bonded with the babe that wsnt even his. And he had, wanting to give another chance to do something right, when he knew just how very wrong his own existence was. Pausing with the fork in his mouth at his words he slanted a look at her, raising a eyebrow at her words as he thought about it before looking around the room.

“The house maybe, but not me. I'm hardly suitable to be around adults, much less little people..”He said frowning, fangs nibbling at his lip a little, a slight wrinkle in his forehead as he looked down at the plate he was eating from.

Vera nodded slowly. "But, Jason, you've never hurt me... And you've had plenty of opportunities to do so," she said, watching him carefully. She just wished she understood what made him so different. Of course, she understood that he was dangerous. He practically reeked of danger, and she knew that from the moment she met him. He was beyond different, and she had a feeling that he was beyond human... So why was she not running far, far away? Why was she encouraging him to believe he'd be safe around an infant.

Disappointment flickered across her face, because it was clear that he was not comfortable with the idea of having a baby around.

"Or, you know, I could be on my feet by the time the baby is born," she said, looking down at her place. This was no where near the truth, of course. After all, she just finished crying to him that morning about how she couldn't afford the kid. What made her even say that?

"I mean, I might be able to afford my own place by then," she murmured, "So that we don't get in your way..."

Jason chewed on his lip, not even realizing he was drawing blood, because he so wanted to believe that he could be safe. That he could have a semblance of a normal life, sighing softly before flickering a annoyed look at her. “Don’t be ridiculous. You know you cant be on your feet, and despite knowing this is a bad, bad idea, I like having you around.”he said frowning a little as he stared down at his plate. He just knew he was to dangerous to be around a infant, but he didn’t want her going anywhere either. Torn between his need to be left alone, and to follow the instincts of the animal inside to raise young, to make sure the future generation knew everything they needed.

Vera smiled a little, because in all honest, that was the nicest thing he had ever said to her when sex was not involved. In fact, this whole day has shown his good character, and it made her feel a little better.

Putting her plate on the coffee table, she scooted closer to him on the couch and reached up to gently wipe the blood away from his chin again. She was gentle, not wanting him to lash out in defense. She may not know exactly what he was, but she had lived with him long enough to know that she was better off if she made slow, gentle movements when coming toward him. "You're doing it again," she whispered, talking about his teeth biting into his skin. Poor guy. What made him the way he was? It was clear that he feared his own instincts...

"And fine," she murmured, pulling her hand away. She stayed close to him on the couch, looking up at him while biting her lip. "I'll stay."

She gave him a smile, then took their plates in the kitchen. They didn't have a dishwasher, but she always liked taking solace in the times she stood and washed dishes, staring out the window that was above the sink. It felt peaceful and simple, and it reminded her why she ran away in the first place... Because she didn't want to go back to her public, chaotic life.

As she washed dishes, her eyes glanced over at the sonogram... And the more she looked at it, the more she knew that she was already in love with the baby, even if the situation was beyond fucked up.

Jason started a little, sighing softly as he stopped biting at his lip, letting her wipe the blood away looking up at her. “See. You just need to stop being ridiculous. I’m going to injure myself every time you be stupid.”He muttered teasing her a little for wanting to leave before smiling as he laid back on the couch, shifting to lay down as he stretched out on the couch. “Wake me up when you want to go to bed. I did promise you punishment.”He said sleepily, snuggling down into the couch. So tired that he wasn’t even doing his normal routine of checking the house,making sure it was locked down and safe, so tired that he just past out.

Vera watched him, and for the first time, she saw him with his guard down. Considering the fact that they never actually slept in the same bed, it was also the first time she had ever seen him asleep... It was kind of nice, knowing that he was starting to trust her...

After washing the dishes, doing some cleaning, and locking all of the doors, Vera walked over to his sleeping form and smiled. "Jason," she murmured, reaching down to gently brush some hair out of his eyes, "Why don't we save that punishment for tomorrow night? You're tired."

She looked down at his peaceful face, taking in the beautiful sight. The man may be dangerous, but he sure was handsome. "Let's get you to bed," she said gently.

Jason started at the sound of her voice, reacting without thinking as the woman touched him, already moving, pulling the woman down on him and twisting, pinning her easily under him. His eyes glazed and sleepy, fangs bared as he looked down at her, instincts driving for the moment as he considered killing her before he blinked slowly.

“Vera?”He muttered frowning a little as he looked down at her under him.

"J-Jason?" Vera stammered, looking up at him wide-eyed. She should have known better than to touch him while he was sleeping...

Swallowing hard, she glanced down at his fangs, then back up at his eyes. She took a few deep breaths and stayed still, not wanting to alarm him. "Yea, it's me," she murmured, biting her lip. It was clear that he had scared her, but not enough for her to be upset. She knew that this was her fault, that he was skittish and easily alarmed. "I-I'm sorry, I was just trying to get you to bed."

And that's when she knew that eventually, they were going to need to have a talk about his... situation.

Jason frowned a little looking down at her, huffing out a sigh before shifting to get up off her. Feeling skittish and out of sorts as he stood again. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have slept out here…of course you would try to wake me up.”he sighed running his fingers through his hair, wondering when he’d come to trust her enough to fall asleep near her. “We should go to sleep.”He sighed heading for the bedrooms.

Vera nodded, not saying anything else. She wasn't about to make him feel bad, not when he was starting to (kind of) come out of his shell... Instead, she gave him a smile and headed toward her own bedroom, settling in for the night. It took a great deal of effort not to think to hard about what was going to happen in the near future, but it was hard. They were in over their heads.

~*~

Two months later, things had not changed too much. Well, except for the morning sickness. That had become a normal occurrence. Aside from that, and maybe the fact that they were forced to use the car instead of the motorcycle most of the time, things were the same. They were sexual (as sexual as ever, really), and they were making things work. Since it was nearly Christmas time, it was a little cold for him to be on the bike in the mornings anyway, so she let him drive her to work in her car and pick her up later in the evening.

Of course, her manager didn't particularly like having a pregnant girl running around the diner. She was too much of a liability. He would only schedule her a couple days a week, which was fine, but she really needed the money. She had a baby on the way and (to her horror) she was starting to grow out of the few sets of clothes she ran away with. That's why she had to get a second job local antique shop. It was nice little place that allowed her to work on the weekends, ran by an elderly couple, and they loved to send her home with baby clothes and toys that came in through the store. In fact, they sent her home with a crib one day, much to her delight.

Vera was in the kitchen scrambling up some eggs and bacon like she always did in the morning. Her dark hair (which she still kept dyed) was tied off in a loose, long braid. Considering she couldn't wear any of her jeans, she wore a pair of black leggings, a long royal blue shirt, and some black fleece boots. Her baby bump was definitely bigger than it was, now that she was five and a half months a long, but she didn't mind. After all, she was starting to grow quite attached to the little baby inside.

"Morning," she said over her shoulder, hearing Jason walk into the kitchen.

Jason smiled a little as he walked into the kitchem his dark hair sticking up each and every way, making sleepy and not quite awake look quite sexy as he considered the woman in front of him. “Morning.”he said stifling a yawn as he sat down at the table to wait for her to finish, though his eyes followed her around the room. Though it wasn’t totally obvious most of the time, he was always in tune with her, his instincts honed and sharpened to the point that he was aware of what she was doing or where she was at any time of the day, because he needed to know she was okay. And her boss…well, the fact that Jason hadn’t managed to yell at the restaurant manager was a small miracle.

Rubbing a hand over his face he smiled a little. “What are you doing today?”He asked, curious because he had Sunday off, so he was wondering what she had planned.

Vera turned and placed the breakfast on the table, then sat down across from him. She smiled and shrugged. "I have the day off," she said, "So I'm not sure. Maybe some cleaning and stuff. Honestly, I was going to attempt to clean out the back bedroom. Mr. and Mrs. Wittington have sent me home with a quite a bit of stuff, and she keeps telling me all these horror stories about how her daughter was put on bed rest after her sixth month and couldn't do anything." She frowned at that and began to dig into her breakfast. "Oh, and I need to go to the store, we are out of a few things."

After a few moments, she looked up from her plate at him and bit her lip. "I, uh, I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow. It's the one where they tell me the gender," she said, "Do you... want to come? You don't have to. It's just, you know, I've been telling them I'm married and all of that, and they give me these funny looks when I show up on my own, and I thought it might look nice if I had 'my husband' come this time."

She realized she was rambling and blushed. "You don't have to, though."

Jason tilted his head a little, smiling.”I’ll help you. There’s a lot of the old stuff in that room. When I moved in I shoved all the old woman’s things in there, cause I didn’t want to throw them away.”He shrugged a little because he hadn’t been able to through a lifetime’s worth of collectables away, but he hadn’t wanted them either. Laughing quietly he nodded.”Lets go to the store then, then we’ll clean. I want to get some new clothes to.”He said shrugging a little.

Looking startled at her question, and startled even more at the fierce desire that consumed him at wanting to know what the child was. Swallowing hard to keep from blurting out the words the filled his mouth, he nodded a little, “I’ll go with you. You cant afford to stand out more then you already do.”he said sighing quietly looking amused as she rambled

Vera looked up at him, and there was no hiding her relief at his answer. "Yea, you're right," she said, rubbing her stomach with her free hand as she thought about it, "I've just always brushed them off by saying my husband worked a lot, but it would be nice if you could come and play the part. It will look good, especially since this appointment is important."

As she ate, she nodded, thinking about what he said for a moment. "I guess I could use a few clothes that fit," she admitted, frowning a bit. The poor girl was always used to being small and curvy, but she had never experienced weight gain like this. While she was fortunate to have no weird swelling or weight gain in her face, her belly added quite a bit to her small frame, and it made jeans impossible.

After they finished eating, she put the dishes in the sink. "While you shower, I'm going to sort through some boxes of baby clothes Mrs. Wittington sent me home with," she sighed, "The woman is very persistent. I definitely won't have to go buy much."

“Well, we cant afford to bring attention, so I’ll go with you. Especially in small towns, people notice things.”he said shrugging a little before smiling. While it disturbed him somewhat at the fierce need he felt to actually take care of her and the child, he brushed it off before nodding. “Not to many, you wont be in them that long, and you could always wear a few of my jeans if you want.”he offered after a moment,feeling vaguely odd about the offer, but the fierce need to see that she was comfortable was making him do things he wouldn’t normally.

Finishing eating he nodded, laughing.”She cares for you. Of course she’s persistent.”He said looking amused as he headed for the bathroom, getting in the shower. Cleaning up before after a bit coming back out, towel drying his hair as he stepped into the room with her, looking calm and dashing in jeans and a loose dress shirt. “Find anything good?”he asked looking over the piles of clothes.

Vera looked over her shoulder at him. She was sitting on her bed, sorting through all of the clothes. "Lots of good stuff," she admitted, "In good condition too. They were from her daughter's last two pregnancies, so there are both boy and girl things." She lifted up a frilly little onsie with white lace and a pink bow... She put it over in the pile of things to keep, even though she had a gut feeling that the baby was a boy. Of course, she didn't know for sure, but she was leaning toward that assumption.

"Oh," she gasped, putting her hand on her stomach. She dropped the onsie that she was currently holding, and her eyes squeezed shut. She wasn't in pain, even if it might look that way, before more... uncomfortable.

"Come here," she murmured, motioning him over. When he got close enough, she reached out for his hand, but didn't take it. She knew better than to do that. "The baby's moving. You have to feel it."

“Good. Better to not buy a lot of things, and…no frills. That’s vaguely disturbing.”Jason said making a face at the girly outfit, snickering a little before his eyes went wide, looking worried as he hurried to her side, crouching down in front of her,”Whats wrong?”He said looking worried before frowning in confusion. “Oh.”He said tilting his head a little at her words, biting his lip a little before holding a hand out, letting her rest it on her stomach. While it pleased him to know the child was fine, he knew his sex life was going to suffer because the more real the pregnancy got to him, he was pretty sure he wasn’t going to be able to be rough with her.

Vera watched him, pressing his hand into the left side of her growing stomach. "Crazy, huh?" she whispered, swallowing hard. It scared her so much to know that this baby was going to be there in three in a half months. The poor kid was walking into a very complicated life, and she wasn't sure if she ever could make their life 'normal'. Not with out going to her father for help a stability... No, she'd never do that. She felt safer with Jason that she had in a very, very long time.

She shifted to stand up and leaned over to grab her purse. "Come on," she said, "Let's get some shopping out of the way. We need to get to the market too." Giving him a smile, she walked with him to the car and slid into the passenger's seat. It was so weird to see them now, going from fucking in the back of a bar to being sort of domestic... Well, domestic in an odd sort of way.

Jason tilted his head a little as he nodded, looking down at her with a slight smile as he sat back on his heels. “Its weird…odd. Makes it more real.”he nyttered frowning a little before getting up to. Smiling as he followed her out to the car. Feeling out of sorts as he got into the car, resting his head back against the headrest as she drove. “…have you had anyone ask about us?I mean, the people you work with.”he asked after a moment, because even if he knew she had used him as a husband at her doctor’s, he was worried about the people she worked with, and what they would think of her. Not wanting her to get her feelings hurt for being kind to him and ‘daiting’ him. While it wasn’t normal dating, it was probably as close as he’d ever get anymore.

Vera looked over at him and sighed, biting her lip. "Well, I mean, it's not like they haven't noticed that you take me to work every day, or the fact that I'm pregnant," she murmured quietly, "In order to keep myself from looking like a total whore, I decided to tell them what they wanted to hear, and that's that I've been with you for the past couple months, and this is your baby." She looked guilty about what she said, but it was true. Lying to them was easier than trying to somewhat tell the truth... It was a small town, and well, it was better that everyone thought the same thing. "I'm sorry, Jason... I know I've been lying to people without exactly asking your permissions, but I just... thought it would be best."

She bit her lip and looked over at him. "On a scale of one to ten, how angry are you?" she asked, just like she did the day she told him she lied to the doctor's office.

Jason nodded a little as he looked out the window, sighing ever so softly. Because he had suspected that was what she would say. And while it disturbed him to think about having a kid of his own, he also knew that it was less…noticeable if they had the same lie going on with everyone, instead of telling different ones. “A five. I know its for the best but…I ran away from home to get away from commitments vera, I never thought I’d find some here.”he said sadly, because he’d left some important people behind when he ran, and while he knew he’d damaged the relationships he’d left behind, he also missed them to. More then he could ever say, because they were part of his life before he’d been changed, and he missed them. Missed the girl he’d nearly killed when he’d returned changed. More then anything else, he regretted leaving erin behind, even if it was for her own safety. And now he had vera and a baby to look after, it scared him. badly. because he didn't want to fail.

Vera went quiet for several moments, and it was starting to make a little sense. Swallowing hard, she nodded and reached up to wipe a tear that started to form under her left eye. No, she wasn't that big a baby. A lot of it was hormones. However, the idea of upsetting him hurt her, and the idea that she was inconveniencing him... Well, that made her feel like total shit.

"Look, I'm sorry," she murmured quietly, pulling up into the only clothing store the small town had. It was definitely no Saks Fifth Avenue, but that was beside the point.

"I told you in the very beginning, Jason, that I would try my very best to get out of your way once the baby was born if that's what you wanted. And I can. No one is forcing me to stay here with you. I ran away once, I can run away again."

Of course, she knew that was bullshit, but she didn't want to admit it.

With that, she got out of the car and started to walk toward the store, trying to act like their conversation didn't bother her... That she had not become attached to him and the idea of having him there to make her feel less lonely in this whole fucked up situation.