Who: Neena Thurman and Velma Kelly What: tea When: Wedensday afternoon Where: a tea shop Rating: PG for serious discussions about violence and excrement Status: complete
Neena was sick of everything. Mostly she was sick of being sick. Since she couldn’t fix that, she decided to try to stop being bored instead. She’d texted Velma to meet her at the tea shop, and ordered a pot of ginger tea as soon as she walked in. She wasn’t the only pregnant woman with this bright idea, but she was the only patron in a Sex Pistols t-shirt and the only one with a facial tattoo. She sighed and ignored the occasional lengthy glance of disapproval. She didn’t need these bitches to like her, she just needed some tea and company.
Velma had gotten sick of staring at her bedroom ceiling, so she'd figured why not. She was just barely beginning to feel a hard patch on her abdomen, so her clothes still mostly fit. She'd shrugged into something comfortable - fuck the heels - and gone to meet Neena.
She saw the other woman as she headed in, waving and going to sit down. "Hey. How's it going?"
Neena couldn’t fit in her old clothes anymore, but mostly because she was inactive and gaining weight. Which only made her more batshit. She waved back at Velma, nudging the chair across the table out with her foot. “I’m okay. How’re you? Still sick?”
"Getting a little better, but yeah, it's still ugly. Getting sick of ginger even though I know it's a miracle worker with this shit." Velma made a face. "Eli's been getting me ginger everything, though from where I have no idea."
“You’re going to be pissed when you pour your cup of tea, then.” Neena said with a sigh. “I’m sick as fuck of ginger and sitting around on my ass. I did a few job interviews this week and trained a manager and it was almost too much. Spent most of Tuesday throwing up.” She made a face. “I’m lucky to be gaining weight instead of losing it, but I’m pissed off about that too.” She made herself shut her mouth. She wasn’t normally so candid about her problems. Nobody wanted to hear her bitch. “How far along are you?”
Velma didn’t mind. “Eh, not pissed, just getting resigned.” She chuckled a little. “You found a manager? I know Logan said you might have to take it easy a little. That sucks.” Especially for Neena; Vel knew how active she preferred to be. “Tomorrow is two months. Gonna be the fucking death of me.”
“Yeah, it’s a fucking British invasion in my bar right now.” She didn’t mind too much. “Lady’s competent, not sure about the kid, but we’ll see. You’re almost through the worst part. Second trimester is usually cake.” Not in her case, but Neena was used to the universe making her shit more complicated than necessary.
“You hired a bunch of Brits?” That amused her. Neena wasn’t xenophobic or anything, but in a bar that pretty much prided itself on being all-American, it made Velma laugh.
“I know. The cops are gonna riot.” She smiled and shook her head. “But they’re attractive women and they know their shit, so once they settle in I’m sure everyone will be fine. I don’t like spending so much time away from the bar, but I trust my people and I think the new ones will be good additions to the crew.”
“Don’t get me wrong, it’s your bar, your judgment. Just amused to see the first time some of your regulars try to sass some hot English chick.” Velma sat back a bit, wincing when her back protested. “Hell, kind of want to send Logan in there just to watch the fun.”
“Logan better still come, he’s half my revenue anymore.” Neena said with a laugh. “My entire business plan is to keep having hot chicks work the bar so he’ll feel irrationally protective of them and keep coming in.”
Velma rolled her eyes. “I used to think it was sexist, what he does, but eventually I realized it was just white knight syndrome to a neurotic degree.” She sighed. “He means well. Even offers me foot rubs sometimes.”
“Yeah, it’s hard to know how to take him sometimes, and you have to be willing to stand your ground. I’m glad he wound up with you, I think you handle him pretty well. A good blend of willing to take his shit and also willing to tell him to fuck himself if he pisses you off.”
Velma smiled a little. “I get nervous or jealous sometimes, but I figure that’s normal, with a guy who’s probably had at least a quarter of the country. But I don’t put up with his bullshit if I don’t have to. I just don’t want to ever be That Girlfriend.” That was the quickest way to find yourself alone.
“Is he still not marrying you? Jesus Christ I thought I was bad.” Neena rolled her eyes. “You’re fine, don’t worry.” She took a drink of her tea.
Velma shrugged. “He’s got his Mariko hangup. Honestly, I understand it. If he was just being commitment-phobic I’d tell him to fuck himself, but actual fear isn’t rational.” She smiled a little, starting to pour her own cup of tea. “It just kind of reminds me that as badass as he usually is, there’s that teddy bear side. Which is there, whether he fucking wants to admit it or not.”
“I just hope he’s smart enough to see what he’s got. He can be dumb as a stump sometimes.” She finished up her tea, making a face at the taste. “I’ll be so glad when I’m not pregnant anymore.”
“Most men can be dumb as a stump. He’s just got a special brand of dumb.” Velma shrugged. “I think I’m already there, but at least I’m finally starting to get excited about holy shit, I’m going to have a real kid. I was worried.”
“It’s a big change. I wasn’t ready-” Neena couldn’t remember if she’d talked about her first child to Velma. “We made the decision so fast that I didn’t really think about the changes we’d have to make.” She didn’t want to talk about the future, because it would sound like whining and it made very little sense.
“This was a total accident.” Velma shrugged. “I think I used that as justifying why I wasn’t more excited. At least you and your fiance talked about it beforehand. I just got to be surprised by Logan and Eli’s supersniffers.”
“Well, for the five seconds it took us to figure out this was the only way we’d have a kid that wouldn’t turn into a rape vampire.” She said it flippantly, like that was no big deal. “I’m glad it happened, but I’ll be even more glad when the kid can put itself to bed.”
Velma blinked. “A what now?”
“Oh, heh. He’s better now.” Neena clarified. “See, in the dreams he’s got this. . . family curse is how he described it. Basically he’s a vampire that feeds off of high emotions, and he can induce them in others. His family focused on sex, so he was. . . kinda rape-y in the dreams. I mean, he was fine in real life, and his powers were fun while he had them, but now he’s a wizard and that’s a lot better.” Because the fact that they were in love hurt him when he was a vampire, but it only made him stronger as a wizard.
“Damn.” Velma raised an eyebrow. “So he went from being a vampire to a wizard? And he doesn’t feed on sex anymore so it’s okay to have it. Is that what you’re saying?” That was a special kind of fucked up.
“No, see, the super fucked up thing is that even though he’s not. . . possessed or whatever we have no idea if a kid we have would be possessed or whatever too. When the powers went out we basically spent the whole week fucking, except for the parts where I went to yell at Logan for dying.” And not telling Velma for most of the week.
Velma pressed her lips together, hoping she didn’t look as rattled as she still felt, thinking about that time. “I sort of remember hearing about that after the fact, yeah.”
“Yeah, you were probably a little busy.” Neena made a face. “Sorry, that was shitty to bring up.”
“It’s okay, it was a long time ago.” Velma shook her head. “He also fucking knows better now.” If, God forbid, anything like that happened again, he wouldn’t try to keep it from her.
That did jog her memory, though. “Oh. Hey, did I show you what I can do? The other week when people’s plants and shit were attacking them, I woke up with ... I guess, a power.”
“Oh, sure! I was hiding under my bar most of the time, I didn’t hear anything about it.” It was a more interesting topic than how much stuff sucked.
“Me and Logan think it fires off when I’m scared.” Velma stood up - they were in a corner anyway, what the hell. She started to think more about that time when Logan was dying - how she’d felt, the sense of being left behind, being lost. It wasn’t fun, but by now she could feel the force fields come up - a faint hitch in her consciousness. It would hold for a few minutes, anyway.
Velma opened her eyes. “Try to throw something at me. Even just like, a paper ball.” It would bounce off.
Neena grabbed her butter knife and tossed it at Velma, aiming for her arms so it wouldn’t be too painful if it hit.
Velma still got a little scared of it hitting, but this, like last time Logan had tried, bounced off the shield. “See?”
“That’s pretty cool.” Neena said with a laugh. “Better than my shitty powers and you didn’t get turned a weird color.”
“I’m just happy that I think it’ll help protect the kid, if like, one of Logan’s enemies comes after me.” Velma shrugged. “I’ll be plenty fucking scared if that happens, and Logan said they’re like Sue Storm’s shields, though I don’t know who that is. I just appreciate the defensive weapon.” She smiled a little, looking down. “Learned my lesson that one time. I think defense is my game anyway.”
“How many enemies does he have here?” Neena asked. She was glad Velma had a way to save her ass, but Neena was only alive because Faiza was an angel and Neena was paranoid as hell.
“None right now that I know of, but I’d be an idiot to think more aren’t going to crawl out of the woodwork.” Velma drank more tea.
“Why? I mean other than dream people what’s he done to merit enemies? I’m paranoid, but you have to be reasonable about this kinda shit.” She shrugged.
“I mean the dream people. I guess I’m waiting for another Creed to show up.” Velma shook her head, running a hand over her face. “I just want to be prepared. Not even for me, for this kid.” If she lost the baby, she couldn’t even think about it. Annoyingly, her eyes filmed over even thinking about it in the abstract.
Neena nodded. “In that case yeah, better to be prepared.” She sighed. Their lives were complete bullshit. “But you won’t be alone, and even if something happens to Logan you’ve got people who’ll have your back.”
“I know.” She was not going to fucking cry, Goddamn it. Velma nodded. “We’re all one big fucked up family, and all that. Except Emma, who hates my guts, but the feeling’s mutual, so whatever.”
“Eh, whatever. The point is that people have your back, so you don’t need to worry so much. Just enjoy being pregnant. It’s all downhill after you get too big to hold your pee for an hour.”
“I’ll enjoy it when it gets to the fun part.” Velma made a face. “Everybody tells me there’s the sick part, the horny part, and then the please-shoot-me part.”
“Yeah. That last one lasts about twenty years, I hear.” Neena noted with a laugh.
“I’m just looking forward to the first time Logan changes a dirty diaper.” Velma laughed, too. “The manliest of men quail in the face of baby poop.”
“Especially the first couple.” Neena made a face. “Though you’ll probably have a nurse doing those for you.”
“Yeah, probably. And Logan does have a really good excuse for flailing like a girl in the face of baby poop - I’d whimper if I had that sniffer, too - but I’ll still make him do them.” Velma smirked.
“Pfft, I wouldn’t give him any slack either.” Neena said with a laugh.
Velma grinned. “I don’t think he expects me to.” But her tone was soft. “No, I’m fucked. I love the guy. We’ll work it out.”
“Yeah. If anyone can deal with him it’s you.” Neena said with a smile.
“Sometimes I think I deserve a fucking medal, and sometimes it’s easy. I guess that’s all men, though.” Velma finished off her cup of tea.
“That’s been my experience. Thomas is pretty easy to deal with, but I’m kind of thinking I’m the man in our relationship and I’m an asshole.”
“You said it, not me.” Velma teased, but ducked. “I’m teasing, I can’t talk, I haven’t met your man.”
“He’s pretty awesome if I do say so myself.” Neena said with a grin. “He’d have to be to deal with my bullshit. I mean, I give Logan shit about his legitimately shitty stuff, but I faked my own death once, so I kind of automatically win all ‘biggest asshole’ contests.”
“Did you seriously?” Velma raised an eyebrow, amused in spite of herself. “That is kind of a long-standing entry. I mean, I’m sure you had a good reason, but wow.”
“Yeah, when my bar blew up.” Neena said with a nod. “Back when Creed was a thing.”
“Oh, right. I forgot because I literally knew about it for about ten minutes before Logan told me you were okay.” Velma laughed. “I also didn’t know you back then.”
Neena shrugged. “No big deal. Well, not to you, but honestly I’d have broken up with me over that, so I don’t really have room to talk about anyone being an asshole.”
“Except Logan.” Velma joked. “He’s always the exception.”
Neena snorted. “I’ll call him an asshole forever, whether I’m a bigger one or not.”
“You’re best friends. You’ve earned that right.” And she was comfortable with it. Velma saw no need to lie. “I wasn’t comfortable with you two being tight at all, but I got over it. Honestly, that Jean woman was the one who bugged me, but I can deal with the rest.” She kind of wished Kitty wouldn’t have told her about that.
“Trust me, you’re a way better match for him than me or Jean. I mean, Jean’s a great lady and all, but women like her don’t date a bad boy. They fuck them then engineer a breakup and find a nice guy to marry.” Or at least that was her experience with the widows support group in church.
"I don't have anything against her personally, I mean, I never met her. Just the way Logan talks about her." It bugged her. Even though it probably shouldn't.
“It’ll be fine. She’ll show up, ‘cause that’s what she does, but I promise you she’s way too classy to be interested in Logan while you two are in a relationship.” Or at least classy enough to hide it, since she’d clearly wanted to sleep with Logan while married to Scott. “We’re all incestuous as hell in the dreams. It’s just how things went.”
“And if not, and there’s a fight, at least she won’t be able to hit me.” Velma joked. But it was a joke.
Neena snorted and didn’t correct her. “You’ll be fine.”
“i’m just trying not to borrow trouble, I’m sure enough of it will be on my ass at some point.” Velma shrugged. “I normally try to take care of myself, but it’s all about the kid at this point.” She didn’t even know what gender it was yet, but the idea of anything happening to this baby made her feel sick. In a different way than the morning sickness did.
“Yeah.” Neena said with a nod, toying with her napkin. “That’s what’s important.” Her expression was neutral, because that was something she definitely didn’t need to talk about with Velma.
Velma saw that, but she had enough tact to let it go. “I probably should get going back home. I’m sure Logan has convinced myself that I’ve been kidnapped by aliens or something.”
“Yeah, I need to get home and work on dinner.” She stood up and stretched. “Drive safe.”
Velma waved. “You too. I hope the time comes when you don’t need the ginger everything.”