Who: Veronica & Anthony What: Hanging out; adorableness When: Saturday afternoon Where: Anthony's place
Anthony had been a little out of touch with everyone for a few weeks, which was no one's fault but his. He'd heard rumors that the Greek pantheon was imploding, but since that didn't have all that much to do with him, he kept his nose out of it.
Another drawback was that he hadn't seen Veronica for those few weeks either, and he missed. He'd called her, inviting her over for dinner, hoping they could chat and unwind for a little while. "I'll even cook," he promised. "Real Italian food, I've had practice to put Olive Garden to shame," he'd finished with a laugh. He'd even bought a bottle of wine for the occasion, and the whole apartment smelled like alfredo sauce and garlic bread. The only thing missing was the guest of honor.
Veronica herself was worried. With the entire Greek pantheon on it's head she worried someone might take their anger out on her son, and she had no way of defending herself. That was combined with dealing with a cranky eight year old who was starting to be affected by his father's absence.
It made her tired and stressed, and so Anthony's call couldn't have come sooner. She'd missed him these past few weeks and if she hadn't been occupied with Bernie she would have searched for him. She'd begged her sister to babysit, and once she'd gotten dressed had left.
It didn't take her long to get to Anthony's, ringing the bell once there and looking forward to the evening.
He rushed to answer the bell, opening the door and letting her in. She looked frazzled, so he moved into the kitchen, poured a glass of wine and handed it to her. "Hey," he said softly. "Thought this might help, you look like you've had a rough time lately. Is everything OK? I've heard some bad things were going down with the Greeks."
She smiled at him when he let her in, gratefully taking the wine. She'd wrangle a kiss out of him later. She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "I don't know much, just that I've been told to keep an eye out on Bernie. Like they expect me to be able to do anything if they try. I worry, but so far I don't think anyone knows or cares yet. And I have to deal with a moody eight year old who is noticing his father going absent and it effects him. Bloody Greeks." She gave him a small smile and sat down. "it's just a lot to deal with. I have my sister, but I can't make her deal with all this all the time. I'm just having one of those 'what did I get myself into' moments, combined with thinking I'm really to young to be a mother, thrown in with self doubt about my ability as a parent." She took a drink from the wine and set it down. "So rough is an understatement."
"Well if you guys ever need someplace safe to crash, you're all welcome at my place," he offered. Maybe he didn't know mojo to keep out the Devil, but he could certainly ward off a few ancient Greeks. "I don't know who'd want to hurt you guys, but they'd have to go through me to do it, if that makes you feel any better."
"I bet she'd want to know," he said softly. "She'd probably want to be there for you. Then again, she did just find out people like me existed in the first place, so there's that." He shrugged. "I mean, I don't even remember what my siblings were like, it's been so long since anyone even mentioned them."
"Hey, don't talk like that," he said, sitting down next to her. "You're a great mom, and you've raised a great kid, young or not. All parents have some self-doubt sometimes, I'm pretty sure it comes with the territory. So that's what tonight is for, you get to unwind for a couple of hours, and if talking will help, well then, that's what I'm here for."
Smiling she set her hand on his, "thank you. Bu talking will just get me even more worked up. I can do anything, besides that. It's all just a little too much." She gave his hand a squeeze before releasing it. "Unwinding sounds good though."
"And I know I can tell her, but Bernie's not her burden. I can't keep depending on people." She took the glass and sipped from it, "so please, anything else? How are your Saint friends?"
"Well, just in case, the offer is still there," he said, squeezing her hand. "And dinner's almost ready, so all you have to do is sit back and enjoy." He gave her hand another squeeze, then got up to check that the sauce wasn't burning on the stove. He gave it a few stirs, then put the lid back on. Good. Almost ready.
"You can't do everything by yourself all the time," he said gently. "You'll run yourself ragged, and nobody wants that." But sensing it would be prudent to go with her topic change, he decided to answer her question. "They're pretty good, I haven't heard anything really bad from them. Except for Mary, she had a little run-in with Lucifer, which resulted in him being dead, but you won't be seeing me cry any tears for him anytime soon. But she's still alive, thank God, if kind of beat up."
The thought of something like Lucifer existing was not a good one, but she figured she wasn't important enough to catch his notice. Or so she hoped. "Mary? Not Mary, mother of God sort of Mary right?" She didn't think she could deal with him knowing The Virgin. Somehow that seemed so out of reach she couldn't even wrap her head around it.
Sighing she set her head on his shoulder. "I'll be fine. I just want to have a nice date with you." Smiling she looked up and stole a kiss from him, "and you really need to be kissing me more." Smirking she winked at him.