Vera believed that she could do many things - she could defend herself, and her family, she could be a mother, she could be a good wife. She could take care of her pack and while in a good mood be a good member of her own original pack. The one thing she couldn't do was live without Brock - and in the same leap, she couldn't sit aside waiting for him to come home for a battle while she did nothing.
But she had other responsibilities as well; the little hands clinging to her legs, and sharp kick to her kidney reminded her why she had finally be persuaded to stay behind. Scarlet, and the little pup in her stomach. Honestly, as much as she cared about Scarlet it was the unborn child that had more of a sway on her - she could trust one of the younger pack members to watch the little girl, but even Vera in her impulsive nature, couldn't have risked her second child's life simply because she couldn't handle being left behind. She had finally grown up.
"Mummy!" the tired child pulled at the edge of her shirt, Vera bent down to pick her up. "Is Daddy back yet?"
Nuzzling her head against the soft curly one that was on her shoulder, the woman hummed softly, gazing around the room slowly, trying to find the familiar head amongst all the others that had arrived, instead of answering. What would she say to the girl if-
"You know what sweetie," her voice was soft as she caught sight of a face in the sea of unimportant faces, "I think I just might see him."
Tired as she was, that perked the small girl right up - sitting up straighter, she tried to look across the sea trying to see what her mother did, but even being held up she was too short amongst the other. That didn't matter anyway, because by the time she had started looking Brock was already there, wrapping the two in a hold that even a vampire's strength couldn't break.
Around the small group, there was the usual noises of living people, murmurs, cries, and groans, but in the tiny bubble there was nothing but a warm silence - a silence that spoke so much more than words could anyway. Tears blinked in the woman's eyes as she snuggled closer to the familiar hold that although she never realized it, her brain had been thinking she would never feel again.
"Let's not ever do that again. Okay?"
Instead of answering, Brock laid his lips on hers. The slow lingering kiss was cut off by a very sharp, "Ew!"
Laughing they two pulled apart, Scarlet clinging to her father and letting him pull her away. Despite the destruction growing around them, the small family was happier than they had been before.
