All the Possibilities

Vera walked down the hall, her hand trailing along the wall lazily as she hummed to herself. Her legs were clad in soft fleece pants, black base, with pale purple polka dots upon them. Paired with her cozy pants, was a baggy shirt that she had stolen ages ago. The scent that had once clung to it, had worn out since then, but she still enjoyed wearing it. It was soft, comfortable.

Boredom had set in long ago, and although logic stated that he wouldn't be around - after all, in her favourite demanding fashion, she had set the man out on a hunt for her current craving, some chocolate, cake-y concoction - she hadn't been specific beyond lots of sugar, and lots of chocolate - Vera decided to try and seek him out anyway.

"Brooock?" she called softly, twirling into the room that he called his own. As expected, she didn't find him, but that was okay. Vera made herself at home, running her hand along the wall some more, glancing at the objects that she recognized picking up the things that she didn't.

"Well hello there," she stated with a grin, picking up a small and worn wolf from its spot, "I remember you." Snuggling the toy to her chest the woman curled into the bed. "You've certainly had your share of attention, haven't you Verock? Don't worry," she kissed the creatures head, "I won't let Brock know, I know."

Giggling softly to herself, she gave a little yawn and turned deeper into the warm blankets. The familiar scent was lulling her into a peaceful sort of sleep. The changing hormones in her body had been making her feel tired faster lately, and it wasn't long before she was breathing evenly, and completely oblivious to the world around her.

Groceries had never felt so heavy before. He was sure it was everything to do with the fact that he had decided to get the most delicious - and therefore heaviest - of ingredients, and nothing to do with the fact that he didn't remember getting a proper night's sleep since before Kallie's wedding two - or was it three? - weeks ago. Placing the bags on the counter, he decided to rest, shoulders sagging as he looked around the small kitchen. It was awfully quiet for a place with Vera in residence.

Dragging himself from his place at the counter, he wandered up the stairs, ignoring the way his muscles ached and wished to stay immobile. If he stopped moving, he probably wouldn't be able to start again, and where would Vera be then? Without someone to look over her? He made his way to the doorway of her bedroom, but he knew from outside that she wasn't in there. Continuing in his meandering way, he kept walking, following the trail of her scent to his own doorway.

Leaning heavily against the wood, he watched her silently, frowning as he recognized Verock and his shirt. His shirt. When had that even disappeared? Perhaps he'd only pretended to not see it with her things.

He didn't know he had consciously thought about it before he had laid beside her, curling into her back and wrapping an arm around her. Pulling her to his chest, he nuzzled his face against hers.

His barely-conscious mind had made it half way through a thought that maybe she made a much better teddybear than Verock ever had before he fell into the first true sleep he'd had since the wedding.

Letting out a soft breath, muscles relaxing further as arms slid around her, the woman curled towards the man she had been pining after for so many years. Unconscious as she was, her brain seemed to process his presence, the warmth of his body and the contact of his skin, the movement of his breath, and heartbeat. Rolling over, curling herself tightly into his chest, sandwiching Verock between them, she let out another breath, and a soft smile crossed her face.

In that last breath, she murmured three words, dear to her heart, but barely intelligible, easily, and expected to be missed.

"I love you."



She supposed she should be thankful that it did not awake her with a shock; for a few precious moments she got to enjoy the wonder of where she was. Vera had no recollection of how the man had gotten there, nor the words she had mumbled in her sleep.

But she did know the warm feeling that only Brock brought to her, was spreading her. The woman was in fact about to enjoy that feeling and curl back to sleep when a completely different feeling took over her. Biting her lip to keep from swearing, she wiggled herself out of the warm and secure embrace she had been enjoying, and hoping she hadn't disrupted the man, ran as softly as she could to the bathroom.

Only to find the nausea completely gone. Actually swearing this time, Vera took a quick moment to glance in the mirror, running her a hand through her before turning back the way she came, hoping she could sneak back into bed before anyone - meaning Brock - noticed she had left.

His unconcious mind didn't comprehend more than the fact that his teddybear had gone, and as his body searched for her and found Verock instead, the dissatisfying thought that his had gone and been replaced by something inanimate. Whining slightly in complaint, he shifted, eyes still cold as he tried to sense if she'd simply rolled away from him. The still warm sheets were unyeilding to him; they didn't give her back.

Groaning, he opened one eye, discontent enough to actually have to see where she'd gone. Didn't she know better than to move while he was snuggling her?

"Vol-chitsu~" He whined, squirming until she reappeared. Once she was close enough, he reached out and took her wrist, gently tugging her back to him and curling around her again. "Who said you could leave." He grumbled unhappily, relaxing against her. Verock forgotten, he rested his head beside hers, taking a deep breath through his nose and relaxing further. One hand snaked its way down to her abdomen, resting protectively atop it, wordlessly making the claim the rest of his body already had as he slid back into a light doze.

This was his.

"Brock-ie," she whined back, a soft laugh in her voice as she was pulled back towards him. It was easy to curl into his embrace, possibly too easy; she wasn't entirely sure what sort of trouble she was getting herself into. What would happen to her later? Her emotions, his attentions.

She was getting frighteningly attached to them - not to anyone's surprise, least of all her own.

"I'm sorry," she teased, soft voice managing to sound haughty, though she was nothing more than amused, "Next time do you want me to throw up on you? Because I can manage that."

Pulling the poor neglected stuffed animal back to herself, about to murmur teasing words to the wolf, she was distracted by the hand over her abdomen. Eyes glancing down, her breath stopped for a moment. She knew that Brock had been attached to the thought for a while - she had used it to her advantage the day of the wedding, but she was never sure...

Brock just liked children. And it had been obvious from the start that she had needed someone to lean on, someone to promise that she'd be okay, that the baby would be okay, so maybe Vera could believe it too. This and really any moment afterwards, she couldn't tell if he really wanted...

Well if he really wanted the baby. Or if he was just doing what he always did - be her friend.

It felt... stronger this time, though. Running a soft finger along his arm, she followed a line of a vein until her hand had stopped a top his own, below both of them her growing child. It wasn't his, not biologically, and that was one of her biggest regrets. No not one of, her only regret. In the back of her mind, where she could fantacize a world where she never screwed up, that's what she saw. Always saw, even before this baby. Brock, not Noel.

But, that never was what she did in her real life.

Lifting the hand slowly, she turned it so the palm was facing her. She pressed her lips softly against the inside of his wrist before softly placing it back where it had been, putting both her own hands over top of it, "I couldn't do this without you. You know that, right?"

He made a small sound to answer her words, clearly indecisive, actually debating what was worse, being covered in whatever happened to be in Vera's stomach - minus the miniVera - or having to let the real Vera, his Vera, go. He elected to think on that decision later, deigning to snuggle her instead.

Shivering slightly under her touch, his hold on her tightened, and he curled into her closer. He wouldn't let her go. Not now, not later, not anytime soon. He pressed a soft kiss to the back of her shoulder, sighing softly.

"Vera." He murmured, his voice quite clear, impossible to be thought anything else. He shivered again at her kiss, giving soft sound of appreciation before curling even closer, fingers caressing the bump that was to become... that already was... theirs. "I wouldn't let you." He breathed. "It's us..." The truth rang in his words, even with the fact that he was half asleep, even with the point that she had gone and not told him. "Vochitsu and Brockie vs the world."

Her breathing hitched for a brief moment, the surprise of the action taking a moment, overriding every logic she knew, she had taught herself to know, before her body's apparent natural reaction took over. A grin, soft but completely blissful, crossed her feature, and any tension that had been remaining in her body slipped out of it.

Her hands slipped even tighter around his hands, as she felt them move softly, almost possessively across the growing baby, her growing baby... their growing baby? She let out a breath, soft and light, almost like a giggle, or a laugh. She leaned her head back until she was stopped by him.

"The world never stood a chance, did it?"