InsaneJournal

Who: Verity and Annie
When: Early February
Where: Annie’s place
What: Visiting
Rating/Warning: Low/None
Status: Complete when posted


Verity did take about twenty minutes to get over to Annie’s place. What she’d predicted had happened, and Christina needed to be changed the moment her butt landed in the carseat. Not just a diaper change, though, the whole outfit needed to come off and to soak in the sink. After a brief scrub down and a wardrobe change, they were finally ready to go. Verity grabbed her purse, diaper bag, baby, keys and phone and headed out the door.

Soon they were knocking on Annie’s door. The baby was fussing just a little, ready to nurse and sleep again.

Ever since she had kind of disappeared from existence, Annie had stayed at home and tried not to sulk about it. She sulked a lot in her dreams. And she’d been scared to leave the house. She wasn’t scared to leave the house in real life, but it was still a bit hard to go out and know that she couldn’t be seen by anyone. At least Mitchell and Nina could see her, because if she couldn’t be seen by anyone, she’d be positively miserable. Thankfully Verity was a witch. She hoped that meant that Verity could see her.

As soon as the door knocked, she called out. “Come in!” and hoped that Verity heard her.

Verity turned the handle and pushed the door open. “Annie?” She called out, taking a couple of tentative steps through the doorway. It was a good sign that she could hear her friend’s voice, wasn’t it? Of course, Verity was a witch, and magic seemed to surround such people. She could see and hear things that sometimes the muggles in her life couldn’t.

“I’m here, honey. Where are you?” She asked, taking a couple more steps toward the kitchen once she’d closed the door behind herself.

Okay so she could hear her. That was good. Well maybe she had heard her. She took a couple of steps out of the kitchen and peeked her head in. “Hey. Sorry that I didn’t answer the door. I would have answered if I could have.” In fact Verity should be able to see her. She was supernatural. They both were. And only supernaturals could see her.

Though she still couldn’t touch anything. Couldn’t hold the baby. That was a bummer. Annie really liked babies and everything. Great. “Hi,” she said again.

Verity turned around to face Annie at the sound of her voice. She broke into a smile at the sight of her friend. Christina was too small to be able to see across the room still--her range of vision was only a few feet. But it was obvious by the way she turned her head that she could hear something, too. Perhaps Christina was a magical baby after all.

“It’s okay,” Verity responded. “It’s really good to see you. I’m sorry it’s been so long.”

“It’s really good to see you too. Even better that you can see me.” Annie would hate that her only way to communicate with Verity would be through text messages. Bah humbug. Thankfully it looked like that didn’t have to happen.

She shrugged a little. “I’m sorry it’s been so long for me too. It’s not.. it hasn’t really been good all that much.”

“Hey, that’s okay.” Verity said, frowning a little. She moved to walk with Annie into the living room where she could put the baby down on the floor. “It doesn’t have to be good all the time.” She laid out a quilt for Christina and set the baby down on her side with some toys. Christina set about reaching for the brightly colored toy and trying to wrap her fingers around it.

“I should have been here more, and I’m sorry for that.” Verity added, softly.

“Everything’s just sort of fallen apart. In my dreams at least.” And that had kind of bled over into reality. Annie sat down on the couch, trying to make it seem like she was sitting. She wasn’t really, but it was easier than trying to phase through the couch. “There’s nothing you could have done. The dreams are getting worse and now this. I don’t know how to fix it.”

“I don’t know, either. If I knew how to stop the Dreams interfering with our personal lives in this world… well, I’d be in a very different position right now.” Verity said, and one of her hands came to rest on Christina’s leg in her footie pajamas. “...Not that I don’t love my life. I’d just … I’d have waited until I was … married.”

Annie nodded a little. “Yeah, I get that. I can’t imagine waking up pregnant without.. any of that any more than I could have imagined being dead and doing this.” She put her hand through the table. It went right through. She sighed a bit. “Mitchell did a lot of really bad things in our dreams. Then he lied to me about it. Like really really bad. And now the cops are coming for him and he can’t control himself..” she shook her head. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Wait, what?” Verity had been so distracted with the hand through the table that she’d missed the next bit. “...he did bad things… in the dreams, right? They’re not coming for him in this world, are they? Just the dream world?” She asked, looking concerned.

Christina started to fuss, so Verity reached over and gave the girl a different toy.

“Just the dream world,” she confirmed. “He hasn’t done anything here. But in the dreams there was this explosion and a lot of his friends died and he kind of lost him. Him and this girl.. and they went on a.. a massacre..” Annie shook her head and took a deep breath even though she didn’t need it. “I think it’ll be okay here. I mean here isn’t like.. there. I think.” She wasn’t too worried about it, but still.

“And I had to beg him to turn himself in.. in the dream..” she shook her head.

“What do you mean, like there?” Verity asked. She wasn’t sure what all of this meant. “He’s just… normal here. Normal like the rest of us. Not a ghost or a wizard?” Verity asked for clarification. The fact that she was a witch in her dreams and the magic bits bled through to this world was still hard to wrap her brain around. Even after everything else she’d been through.

Oh. Right. Annie shook her head a little. “Mitchell’s a vampire. And I’m a ghost. And we have another roommate and friend that’s a werewolf. Two werewolves actually, him and his girlfriend. Nina. Like one big supernatural family. Except now it’s all bleeding into real life.” She sighed and shook her head.

“Oh. Oh.” Verity noded once. “...well, that explains a lot.” She broke into a small smile. “Wow. Ghosts, werewolves, vampires? Your dreams sound about as crazy as mine. And I absolutely understand about the bleeding into real life bit.” She motioned toward Christina on the floor.

It just seemed so natural now that she hadn’t even thought that she hadn’t told anyone about Mitchell. Or George or Nina for that matter. “Yeah it’s all a bit crazy. The vampires want to take over the world. Kill all the humans. They hate the werewolves. There aren’t very many of them. Even less ghosts. It’s a really bad mess.”

“Sounds like You Know Who in my world.” Verity said. Though, of course, Annie probably had no idea who You Know Who was. “There are plenty of ghosts in my world, too. Quite a few at the castle where I went to school. Hogwarts. The Fat Friar was our House Ghost for Hufflepuff.”

“You Know Who?” Annie asked, because nope she had no idea. “Oh that’s nice that you have ghosts. Makes me glad not to be alone. Even though I am dead. Or am I? This is so frustrating.” And kind of ridiculous, if you asked her. “So.. how’s Christina?”

“Oh. Um… Well, we don’t say his name. It’s been Jinxed. So whenever you say it, he can hear you.” Verity looked honestly scared about this You Know Who fellow. “No one ever says it. Even after he was gone the first time.” She’s good. She’s wrapping her hands around toys and just starting to get some good head control.”

Annie ooh’d a bit, and nodded her head understandingly. “Then we definitely won’t say it. Or talk about him.” It sounded scary. As scary as the old ones. And they were pretty damn scary. “That’s lovely. Once I can touch things again, I’d be happy to baby sit. I love babies.”

“Are you… going to be able to touch things again?” Verity asked, hopefully. “Christina smiles more at you than anyone else, I’ve noticed.” She said. “Well, besides Charlie and Steve.” The two men in Verity’s life now that Roland was gone.

“I really have no idea. I really hope so. In my dreams it kind of.. goes off and on? I don’t even know what triggers it half the time.” Which was awful. “That’s because she’s an adorable baby and knows how amazing I am, don’t you?” she cooed at the baby. “And how are things with Charlie and Steve?”

“Things are… good. Steve is so awkward,” Verity said, breaking into a little blush and a warm smile. “He can’t stand it when I nurse the baby. It’s hilarious. And he’s so afraid… he’s totally afraid of holding her, of diapers, all of that.” She was very fond of her friend Steve. “And Charlie…” That’s where her face went bright red. “...Charlie’s got experience with babies. He’s… absolutely amazing.”

Annie laughed and shook her head. “Men are such.. babies about things. Even more than actual babies.” It was cute the way she was blushing though. “Two guys.. aren’t you lucky? Which one do you like? I mean both of them? What’s that like?” She was curious about that sort of thing.

“Oh, no. I mean, sure… I kinda like Steve. But he’s just a friend. There’s nothing there. Romantically. He’s not interested in me in the slightest.” Verity shrugged her shoulders. Even if she couldn’t have Steve as anything more, she considered herself lucky to have him as a friend. “I thought there was something--or might be something--with Charlie, but… I don’t know. I was… involved… with his roommate without knowing it. And he was really hurt by it.”

Wow. Three guys? Jeez. “Well you never know about Steve unless you find out, but honestly.. it sounds to me like you probably need to figure out which one you like better and just.. go for that one.” Not that Annie was trying to tell her what to do of course.

Verity blinked for a moment, trying to wrap her head around that. “I don’t know. Is it a good idea to like… go for someone? Now? With everything else that’s going on in my life?” Almost as if for emphasis, Christina started to fuss at those words. Verity reached forward to pick up the baby, and let her “stand up” on Verity’s knees, holding her around the middle for balance and support.

Annie shrugged a little. “You deserve to be happy. And there’s nothing wrong with at least trying it. I mean if you ever figure it out. I’m not saying you need a guy to help you or anything. Obviously you don’t. You’re brilliant. I just think if it’s something you want, you should go for it.”

Verity couldn’t help but grin at that. “Thank you. I think you’re brilliant, too.” She said, smiling brightly. “But I do get a little lonely. And I want Christina to have a father figure in her life. Not just someone who sends checks and birthday cards.”

“I definitely get that. I would want that too if I ever had a baby..” Though Annie figured that was never going to happen now. Whether she was a ghost or not, Mitchell probably couldn’t do any of that since he was a vampire. She didn’t want to have kids with anyone else. It was kind of heartbreaking that she would never have kids but there wasn’t anything to do about it. “I know you’ll figure it out.”

She could have a child. She could adopt. It might not be biological, but she could still mother a child. Verity nodded. “Thanks, Annie. I mean, I’m sure I’ll be fine either way. I’m a fighter, you know? And a survivor. It’s hard, but it’s not enough to break me.” Being a single parent, anyway.

Not if she couldn’t be seen by anyone. Or be able to touch anything. But yeah it was the thought that counted. Annie didn’t know what the future had in store for her. “And if you need anything.. well anything that I can actually do, since I can’t do much at the moment.. you let me know.” She smiled a bit.

“I will.” Verity said, and gave her friend a smile. “You’re so kind to offer. And you’re always welcome to come by my place. I love the company.”