A Family Affair

[Andrew Vida]

Andrew wasn't much for the Christian conception of God, Jesus, Mary, and all the other mythos that humans had surrounded them with for ages, but he had always appreciated a good Catholic church. Something about the stained glass windows reminded him of his childhood, though he couldn't quite place what precisely, or why. He strolled up the pews, the faint auras of those who had come before him still lingering in the cathedral. He folded his arms as he approached the altar, the black peacoat making his form only look somehow more distinguished than the way he already carried himself. Dark blonde hair was kept neatly short and showed no signs of any skirmishes he had perhaps engaged in just beforehand. He'd found vampires enjoyed hanging around these places to pick off the weak and emotionally distraught. It made him angry that they preyed on such a weakness, but then again, Andrew didn't have any such weaknesses, so he couldn't relate.

A movement from behind him gave him cause to turn, although it hadn't startled him. People came and went from this church at all hours, especially now that shapeshifters had taken to meeting here. They'd disguised it as some sort of early evening congregation for something, he couldn't recall what, but he grimaced at the thought of it openly. It was a melting pot for disaster, he was certain, but since he wasn't a shifter, he kept his mouth shut. His green eyes fell on a woman in a long red coat with blonde hair tucked messily into the hood. He could see some tension around the midsection, and before he could decide whether she was pregnant or fat, she looked up to meet him, suddenly drawn from her phone conversation.

A split second of recognition crossed his face, and he blinked rapidly at the female. "Capricia?" he asked.

[Capricia Varekova]

Capri hadn't really been sure of why she'd come to the cathedral, but she was Catholic, mostly, if you overlooked the drinking, sex, drugs, fighting, and absolute lack of faith... Okay, so she came to the cathedral out of habit more than necessity to beg for forgiveness. On the contrary, actually, she'd gone there to pray that God would stop her from taking a shotgun to her unborn fetus and just solving all her problems. She was honestly so... deranged at the news Connor had given her that she needed to stuff herself in a place of peace and love before she harmed anyone.

She was on the phone with her brother, talking in fast-paced Russian as she pushed open the doors of the church. She gave only the brief glance as she entered, and had seen only one man present, so she dropped her voice an octave and began trying to wrap her phonecall up. She looked up again, and then blinked.

"Я призову обраÑ,но Ð'ас...*" she said into the phone, before taking it away from her head. "Andrew?" She let a moment skip between them before rushing him, wrapping her arms around him tightly. While the Vida had never shown much emotion, Capricia was always entitled to her moments, and she began crying fiercely into his jacket, overwhelmed with relief, shock, sadness, and lots of pregnant.



*I'll call you back...

[Andrew Vida]

He was surprised by her actions, but caught her swiftly in his arms, hugging her tightly. Amanda and Jason had taught him the values of friendship, though it was a hard lesson to learn with his lineage behind him, but he had always been partial to both Christian and Capricia when he was a member to Frost. They were fierce - Christian reminded him much of his own father, and Capricia he saw as something of a younger sibling.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked, tempering his voice for an appropriate level of concern. He could only guess what she was going to say, but she was far enough along by his visual understanding that the crying could have been dealt with months ago. What was the deal? He found himself checking her for bruises as he pulled her back so he could see her face, but then realized that as a Frost hunter, she would have bruises no matter what the circumstances. That was reminiscent of his mother.

"Did someone hurt you? Did something happen?" he demanded. "Here, come sit down, tell me what's wrong," he said, ushering her gently to the pew on the front row.

[Capricia Varekova]

She sniffled, breathing in the scent of his cologne and the clinging sensation that winter always brought to a person's natural smell. "No, nobody hurt me. Well, not physically," she said. She wiped her eyes as he began playing twenty questions with her, and shook her head.

"Stop, stop," she pleaded as she sat down. "You don't have to go murder anyone. I'm just..."  She shifted her weight and then looked ahead at the altar, shrugging helplessly. "I don't know. I'm pregnant, I'm strung out, I'm stressed at work, Connor is driving me crazy, and I just got a heap of shit news today... The doctor is talking about having me on bed rest for the next three months. Just a shitstorm of... shit!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands up. She rubbed angrily at her eyes now, and looked back at him.

"So, I guess nothing's changed really from when you left, huh?" she asked, her voice laboured by her congestion, making it sound like she was talking with a cold.

[Andrew Vida]

He listened, letting go of her when she began to huff around in place, kicking her feet and moving her arms violently like a petulant child. Nothing had changed, indeed. He reached over and brushed away some of her fine, straight blonde hair.

"Okay, calm down. First thing's first... who's the father?" he asked lightly, shifting his position so that he sat more facing her than forward. He had a few ideas about who it could be, but Capricia was a fickle sort of girl. The only person he'd ever seen her with for any amount of time was Connor, and when he'd left, they'd not been on speaking terms.

"And why would you be on bed rest? Are you still hunting?" he asked incredulously, with a knowing glance at the distraught blonde.

[Capricia Varekova]

She sighed a little. "Connor," she said. "And he does know, before you ask. We got back together a while ago, but things have been rough. We actually weren't talking when this sort of came up; when I went in to tell him I was three months along and we sort of just got back together. Or, we seem to have. It's complicated," she whined.

"I was still hunting until recently, but nobody knows that. I started having some fainting spells and the doctor did some tests. Turns out after he was able to get a hold of my mom's medical history that this is something common in our family. Blood pressure, iron issues, sugar issues, just a load of crap. I get stressed out, my blood pressure and heart rate skyrocket, and he says I run the risk of damaging something..." she growled.

"So now I'm officially grounded. Christian gave me the cut as soon as he saw the report, which I tried to hide from him." She moaned. "I can't just sit on my ass, I'll go insane."

[Andrew Vida]

"Mm, Shane knows what is best for the Guild. If you flaked out and got someone else hurt, or got yourself hurt, he'd be equally pissed off and upset that you hid this from him. I understand your angst, Capricia, but he did make the right call." He leveled his gaze at her. "I am sorry, though."

He sat a moment in silence and then cleared his throat. He'd never had any issues with Connor, though many of the men who knew both he and Capricia suspected the man must've been after some sort of Sainthood for the things she put him through. "So what was the bad news this morning that made you lose your cool?" he prodded. "Can't just be about all this."

[Capricia Varekova]

She looked at Andrew, and instantly knew that if she told him the truth, he would probably have a lot more to say about it than she did. She frowned, and then shrugged a little. She could still tell him the partial truth, just not the one that involved Connor. She shifted her weight a little, crossing her arms.

"I'm still not sure if I made the right decision, here. I've got sonograms and everything. I know it's a girl, and I have no idea what I want to do with her. I don't really think I'll be a good parent. Connor... He's not in this conversation right now. Just me. And I don't know what I want to do. Sort of too late for me to take care of it, so now I have to decide whether to give her up for adoption or... I don't know."

She looked at him. "Girl stuff. Sorry to dump this on you. I wanted to talk to the big G-O-D but you know..." she trailed off.

[Andrew Vida]

He sighed. Girl stuff was right. He fixed his green eyes on her again, and gave her shoulder a squeeze. "I really wish I had some good advice for you, but I'll hopefully never be in this situation. If I am, it means that something has gone very, very wrong." He managed a laugh, and was relieved when she giggled a little, too.

"All I can say is, think very hard about what you want. Maybe even see a counselor. This isn't something you want to just do on a whim like normal, Capricia. This would be something you can't take back." He was gentle, but firm. In his opinion, Capricia needed to be talking to a qualified psychologist to get to the bottom of this one, but in his heart he knew that she was leaving out a lot of the story. That was fine, though. He couldn't force her to tell him anything.

He opened his mouth to speak again, and his phone rang. He held up a finger, and stood, excusing himself before he answered it. There was a brief conversation, and he turned back to her.

"Looks like we might have to cut the reunion short. Evidently one of the servers at work just committed suicide, and the one technician there is already incredibly busy. Poor guy. He has no idea." He held his hand out to her. "Coming or going?"

[Capricia Varekova]

Capricia laughed at his joke, though the suggestion of talking to a headshrinker sobered her up a bit. She didn't like the idea of spilling her details out for someone with a degree and a lot of pills to sift through, although she certainly could afford to do it. She knew her mother and father didn't want to hear her babbling, and Sergei would lock her up in a convent if he could. She had no other choice, really. Andrew was right. No rapid decision making, not this time.

She nodded as he excused himself, and when he came back and held out his hand, she shook her head. "I think I'll sit here for a little and relax before I head home." She stood up and wrapped her arms around him for a final hug. "Thanks, though. Good to see you again. I'm guessing you're in the city for a while now, eh?" she asked at the mention of his job.

[Andrew Vida]

Andrew was pleasantly surprised by her sudden gesture of affection not brought on by tears, and held her tightly until she released him. His nature was to protect, and that's what he did. "Oh, yeah, I'll definitely be close by. If you ever need anything, Capricia... Anything, even if you want to just chill for a few days and get your head straight. You still have my number - if not, Christian does. I was there earlier today, updated it for him just in case."

He gave her a kiss on the top of the head, and then let her hand slip out of his as she sat back down. "Call me if anything happens, okay? I know you can take care of yourself," he said, hands up in defense as she opened her mouth. "I just want to be sure."

At her final nod and smile, he allowed himself a smile of his own, satisfied. He pulled on his gloves as he turned, and walked down the aisle of the cathedral, heading to LogiTech, where no doubt his co-worker Jason was ass-deep in failing computer servers with the pager going batshit.

[Capricia Varekova]

Capricia watched him leave and sighed to herself, sinking into the warm fabric of her jacket. She looked like Little Red Riding Hood, she knew, but she didn't mind. She remained in silence for a while after she heard him leave, and then stood after a moment of contemplation, shrugging her purse over her shoulder. She might just take him up on that offer to stay there for a while - at least he wouldn't let her do anything incredibly stupid.

She walked out of the church slowly, digging her keys out of her purse. She picked her phone up as she climbed into her vehicle and dialed her brother again, prepared to pick up where she'd left off in the previous conversation on her boring drive to her apartment.