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lieutenantwitch, Ginny
Aug. 12th, 2009 09:51 pmtheirgoldenboyA/N: After the first log here, this and shortly after this. Long. Chase referred to is ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
broken_circles.
Chase Collins always made things complicated.
Some of that wasn't his fault; it wasn't his fault that he'd grown up as he had; nor that he'd been ignorant until too late. Nor that he was bringing news that changed what they'd 'known' for too long; first by showing up, now with knowledge about others. Some things, some things were his fault. Like getting precious close to killing Kate, Sarah, and Pogue. Like getting another witch pregnant.
Another witch that Caleb still considered somebody he liked. Maybe a bit of a friend.
And somebody that he didn't need a spell to find. Just a phonecall. Which he didn't tell Chase; Chase didn't ask, either. It was better that way; a spell would complicate things that were already edgy and messed up. A call... was easier. Except this, it wasn't a conversation for the phone. Too big. Chase. What he'd done. Power.
Caleb was very, very glad that she agreed to let them drive there for a meeting. And he was very, very glad that Pogue had agreed to come with him. Pogue had been right, Caleb was the one who was talking with Chase. Fixing things up, if possible, could rightfully be his responsibility alone. But also, the information concerned them all. And, most of all, he was glad to have his friend with him. It made a difference between facing the unknown alone and with... the person he trusted the most in the world. Huge difference.
The small car ate up the miles in its usual smooth, exhilarating way. And then he pulled over at the address Ginny had given him, killed the engine, and looked over.
"So. Let's see... how this goes?"
"All right..." Pogue shrugged, his expression showing clearly that he was dubious about this whole thing. But also that he was resolved to go with Caleb. It was Ginny, and she'd been a friend. And he'd known what Chase was, and he shouldn't have done this to her.
Ginny was listening to Blackmore's Night when they pulled up; something fitting her mood. Maudlin and beautiful.
This wasn't supposed to happen. Or, it wasn't supposed to happen this way. Or something like that. The sex part had been bad enough, although parts of it had been... memorable. They were memorable. She still remembered the way her body felt, too hot and light and full of water for her to stay in one place, remembered the way he had felt on top of her, surprisingly light. How he had felt inside of her. How it had hurt, a little, and then it had turned into something else. That wasn't how it was supposed to go.
Afterwards, she had told him, he shouldn't have done that. She had told him, it was done, and it was memorable, and she had touched his cheek and they had parted ways knowing it wasn't going to happen again. With her knowing, as much as she could that she wouldn't see him again. She hadn't been careful, but it was one time. It was her first time. Nothing was going to happen, right? The odds of anything happening were ridiculously low.
Apparently not.
One hand flattened over her barely still flat stomach as she fought down nausea. Ginny was so, so scared. She was doing this all alone, well, with her parents, who were probably disappointed in her even if they didn't show it, and she was terrified. Of carrying that weight of a baby around. Of birth, god, she wasn't ready for this. She was terrified, and starting to cry again. She didn't want this to be happening. She wanted to wake up now.
Ginny's mother met them at the door, and a man who was probably Ginny's father glowered at them from the kitchen, evidently assuming one of them to be Chase.
Caleb was... He didn't know what exactly to expect. Chase's last snap about fucking a virgin and getting her pregnant was ringing through his head. As was the fact that Ginny had let him know, but not how to find her. Complications within complications, and Ginny was a year younger than them. And the rest of it. Did she want the child and want to keep Chase away from herself? Was she as unsure about everything as the rest of them? Well, there was one way to find out, and.
He walked in step with Pogue; it was unconscious. He knocked on the door, and blinked, surprised at the strange face, and nodded greeting. "Hi. I'm... my name is Caleb Danvers, and this is Pogue Parry. We're friends of Ginny's. I called earlier, she said it would be alright..." Why yes, the glower confused him a bit; he had no idea who knew what, and what was what... Actually, that was rather disorienting. He knew how things were at Ipswich. He knew how they were at Spenser; and he knew the areas that were his habitat at Harvard. Oh well. He'd deal. Pogue kind of waved a little behind them, wondering what Ginny had told her parents.
Ginny's mother nodded, long blonde and slightly pale gray hair swaying around her. Evidently where Ginny had gotten her looks from. And her taste in clothes, from the way she held herself and what she was wearing. "She mentioned you would be coming by, yes..." Behind her, Ginny's father continued to glower. "I'm Beth, this is Michael." And then, upon catching sight of her husband's look over her shoulder. "Oh, stop that."
She looked over the boys. Pogue did his best to look harmless. She looked at them as though she could see not just who they were, but what. But all she said was. "She's upstairs, probably in her room."
"Nice to meet you, ma'am. Sir." Caleb nodded again, at both of them, then smiled a bit. Not quite nervously, but. "Thank you." A beat, then he came in, took his cue from the shoes cupboard behind the door and kicked off his pair, starting upstairs in socks. He figured, if no doors were open to clue him in, upstairs, he could always come back down to ask. Pogue peeled off his boots in somewhat more time, a little self-conscious about the hole in the heel of one sock. Not that the MacAdamses seemed to be paying attention to the state of his socks, but it was the principle of the thing.
But there was no need. A door was ajar, and the music he'd caught from outside was coming out of there. Renaissance folk-rock. His lips twitched up. No wonder she had tolerated Nicky's. As compared to some dancing places and such. He stepped to he door, looked sideways at Pogue, and knocked again. Pogue shifted to tug the hole a little further under his foot and stared at the ground.
Ginny peeled the door open and stood mostly behind it, peeking out at them. She hadn't really expected them to come all the way over. And here she was, barefoot and pregnant, and thinking that was enough to make her have to stifle a slightly hysterical giggle. She was barefoot by choice. The pregnant, not so much, but the barefoot at least was. Her skirts were gray and soft and covered in embroidery, the one underneath gray mostly by being worn and washed so many times. Her blouse was too large for her at the neck and hanging off one shoulder, revealing a deep blue camisole top. The whole effect would probably have been sexy if it weren't for the red eyes and the way she moved to grab a shawl by the door and wrap it around herself, as though she'd been immodest.
"Hey..." Quietly, and then she stepped aside and held the door open with a slender hand that might have been a little bonier than the last time they'd met. As they walked in she switched hands, one to clutch the door and one to clutch her shawl closed, and then again to turn down the music with the hand that had been on the door.
She felt so scattered. It showed, she was sure, in the way she moved. Her mind wandering, most of the confidence she had felt the last time she met them, gone. In the back of her mind she wondered what they must think of her. They had to be looking differently at her. One hand smoothed the blouse over her stomach again, her fingers curling tight in the knit holes of her shawl.
"Hey." Quietly, but with a small greeting smile. Warm, not cocky. His eyes stayed with her as she was more or less floundering, in her own room. The tired look. The red eyes, oh, he didn't like that at all. Whatever had happened, she'd not meant for things to be like this. His face shifted a little, eyes drawing down with compassion, and he stepped closer - slowly, giving her enough of a chance to duck away, or even twitch, or otherwise indicate that right now he would be more intimidating than comforting. And as no such came, he wrapped his arms loosely, softly around her shoulders.
"Oh, Gin." What did he do to you? Just held her for a few moments, then added quietly, "I know." Which was not too informative, but it was a beginning. She looked awkward, lost enough; if he could spare her the need to have to explain... at least tell them, he would.
Ginny curled her fingers into the fabric of his shirt, knuckles pressed against his back. She held herself apart for a moment or two and then sighed, pressing her cheek against his chest and turning her head to smile a little at a stone-faced, jaw-clenched Pogue. It took her a couple of minutes of swallowing and breathing before she could bring herself to speak.
"I suppose..." she took a breath in the middle. "I could sell this to Lifetime. They pay gobs of money for this sort of thing, don't they?" From Pogue tolooking up at Caleb and back to Pogue again, forcing a smile.
Pogue forced one back for her, but his shoulders did relax a little. If she could joke about it it couldn't be that bad, could it?
"One day, maybe." Caleb smiled a little, too. "When you've come up with a twist for the ending which will make them sit up and take notice." Fictional twist, that was. Of course. He held her a little longer, just letting her know. She wasn't alone, and she didn't have to be. Even if guys could only know or understand so much, still. Then he nudged her a little towards where she could sit, letting her choose her seat. Computer desk. He'd thought she'd choose a spot where she could more lounge, or ... be overall more comfortable. But she settled, one foot tucked under the opposite leg, under the skirts, and seemed comfortable enough.
He looked around, and out of sufficiently developed dorm-rooms habit, sat on the bed. Mindful of the covers, outside clothes and all; the creak of his friend's weight beside him ... well. Familiar. Welcome.
... and then Caleb blinked, and shuffled. He had no specific idea what to do next. He'd not expected to find her this ... way. Drained, upset. Well. One of the reasons he'd wanted to talk to her was to warn her, might as well get this bit out of the way? "I... I know, because Chase showed up to ask us to find you." A beat, and he added, wryly, but not ... in any way resentfully for keeping that she knew from them; not right now. More along the lines of a risk, in case Chase had been lying or misled and she thought him crazy. "Find you magically. Which I thought wouldn't be a good idea." Understatement of the month? "And I thought you should know. He said if we didn't help, he'd go for a private investigator, or something like that."
The music from the stereo filled the next few moments.
I gave you all I had
When I chose to believe
Love like magic
Casts a spell
Sometimes leaving scars
I guess it's just as well
Caleb was paying more attention to Ginny than the music anyway. Right?
She smiled a little as she listened to the music player. Silly prescient program. "Magically." She gave it a pause before she continued. "Well. I suppose that was the only cat I had in that particular bag anyway." But GInny did tuck her other leg under her skirts and pull herself up a little straighter. Her face pulled tighter, more formal. More strained.
"Was there anything you wanted to know about that aspect of ... things ..."
Which was when it occurred to her. That aspect of things. Not that she'd thought he'd planned it or that anyone had planned it but that they were making a baby. A child whose magical bloodlines would be mixed, hers and his, corrupted and twisted and hers still pure if faded. Full of life. And on the heels of that was the thought that they were making, had made, a baby. A tiny person who would grow up to be a person who might sit across from her the way they were doing now and the room spun around her. Again.
"I'm... I'm sorry," she murmured, as both boys leaned forward as she pressed her fingertips to her temple, trying to steady herself somehow. "I... magically. He could, of course, if he wanted to. If he knew how." Blood of his blood. The child was probably old enough. Or would be, soon. Oh god. A child.
"Hey. You need a cup of water or something?" Caleb wanted to kick himself. He'd... dropped quite a lot all at the same time. And she was so... Cats and bags and even Chase weren't as important. She was right here and far from feeling too well, by the looks of it. "Or to lie down?" He frowned at her uncertain expression, then did cross to her and get her to bed. Legs up, propped on the pillows. Then pulled up the two other seats - from the computer desk where she'd just been, and the papasan chair, for himself and Pogue. Or rather, each of them pulled one.
When the shuffling was done, he leaned forward, close, so she didn't have to make too much of an effort listening or anything. "I don't know what Chase knows. But," he looked sideways at his friend to correct him, he'd been there, "I don't think he was looking for information how to do it. He didn't think he could do it alone, and wanted help. And we don't have all that much reason to trust him, and seeking out that way... It's a more than slight intrusion in privacy, to say it mildly. Didn't want to do it blindly; wouldn't for anybody, but Chase is..." One shoulder shrugged. "Chase." Crazy, fucked up, broken, alone, unpredictable. Powerful, addicted, sliding in and out of control. Unlike years before, grasping for that control, instead of kicking it at every chance. "I don't know how much you know him, but my guess would be enough." By how much Chase knew about her. He did know Ginny... as she usually was, enough to know that she'd have picked up no less on Chase than he on her.
"About the rest..." He gave her a sheepish smile. "I want to know enough that we'd be still talking next month, not to mention question from Pogue, the other two, their dads... And that can all wait. Unless there's something you think important to tell us now, or something like that."
He was talking too much. He knew that. But his mind was working on overload and... if something important got skipped, he could always ask again later, right?
Ginny settled into the bed with a grateful smile at both of them, glad to be at rest. An amusd smile at Caleb, being so attentive; possibly he was a little too used to taking care of women. She pulled her teddy bear down to wrap her arms around it. Something to give her a bit of an anchor. Her shawl fell over her wrists, feet tucked up beneath her skirts.
"Chase..." Chase is Chase. That was a pretty good summation of the situation, all things considered. "I do know him. I know him... well." And not just in the Biblical sense. She'd gotten a taste of what she'd inflicted on him, and it hadn't been pretty. And she'd also met the person he'd pretended to be, and maybe they should know that she knew that, come to think of it. "I guess you could say I know both him and the person he likes to pretend to be, pretty well. We went out for a few months."
Pogue blinked. Caleb blinked. Pogue shook his head after a moment. "I'm sorry, I think I still have water in my ears, it sounded like you said you dated him for a few months." For which he was promptly smacked on the shoulder by Caleb.
She giggled a bit at that. "We did." And now it was probably confession time. "I knew who he was when I met him. Probably best not to ask how. A friend of my mother's is the short version, she asked my family to keep an eye on him after he'd ... done some things. I didn't know the details at the time. I .. contrived." Yes, she was going to admit that. "To meet him. Talk with him. I don't remember..." she slowed down and hugged the bear tighter as she told this part of it. "I don't remember who asked who out first. We just sort of hooked up, like you do. We went to the formal together. He asked, that time. Afterwards, we went out just to walk and wound up in this gazebo place. That was when... the first time he changed. I think he'd decided he was going to, um. Attack me. Days before that, he just wanted to wait till it was right for him or something."
Pogue and Caleb both looked like they wanted to either kill him or be sick or both. Pogue, in particular, was looking murderous. Ginny was talking more to the top of the bear's head by now. "I did a spell... I didn't think I could. It was one we'd discussed, um." No, not her and Chase. "My mother and grandmother and I. It brings the sins of the past to haunt a person, threefold. Kind of like instant karma, just add magic. Of course, there's no way to use it on someone without it being used on you, too. That was how I learned what he'd done to his parents. To you," she looked sadly at Pogue, at Caleb in turn. "And you, and your girlfriends. And other people."
"It hurt. A lot." She swallowed back a couple of tears. "After that, he ran off. I didn't know where to until he showed up again weeks ago."
Caleb stared for a bit. Then ran his hand over his face, over his hair, and back down, index finger a thumb pinching his chin, pulling it down a bit. His voice was a little subdued. "He ... killed at least one kid. Jesus, Ginny." He'd taken a decent beating, Pogue had been worse. The girls, spiders, anaphylactic shock... "I'm sorry. If I'd known you were going to be dealing with him... I'd..." What? She'd not told them about using magic, either, about any of it, and none of them were all willing to talk about it, or what had happened those few days... "... have warned you." The ending to that was weak, but... he should have been able to do something.
He rose, frustrated at himself, and made a few paces. Which weren't exactly angry, more frustrated at himself, and careful in her room, because it was... well. A girl's room. Crossed to the window, and leaned his forehead against the glass pane for a moment. "He tried to... attack you. He got hit with that. And he came back?" If that wasn't some kind of ... screwed up, or various kinds of screwed up, Caleb didn't know what was.
He added quietly, "if you don't feel like sharing the rest... or, you know. What actually happened, you don't have to? I think..." Small shrug. "Not that he came out and said... Until he knew I'd figured it out, by the way." Wry non-smiling twist of his lips. "Small favors, I guess. But not like he's bragging or anything. He said it's... personal. I wouldn't leave it alone." Not that he wasn't curious. Not that knowledge would be remiss. But he didn't want her to put herself through the wringer any more.
"I don't know... he's harder to figure out than he was before. But whatever happened..." Wry. "He didn't mean it to come to this. And he said he wanted to talk. And I'm still not sure that would be a good idea... for your sake. I'd say, unless you want to, but covering up your tracks as you did seems rather indicative of that." Unless he was wrong. He'd turned out to be wrong about many things in this mess.
Pogue was still recovering from the first shock of what kind of spell she'd done, what that would do to a person, when he went through to the second, following Caleb's line of thought to the conclusion. The idea of Chase in love with anyone was, well. Those words just didn't go in that order.
Not only did Chase come back, he'd come back and he'd ... Pogue's brain stopped working at that point in self-defense.
And how did Caleb know what Chase had meant to do or not meant to do? Granted, it was hard to imagine Chase intending to knock anyone up. But most of this was telling Pogue that Caleb had been talking to Chase more than he'd thought, and that worried him. Chase was bad news any way you told it, and he didn't like not knowing what his friend was up to with the crazy.
Ginny only smiled. "I covered my tracks because Chase isn't the... the best at dealing with surprises even under normal circumstances. This isn't something I want him worrying or flailing about in close proximity to me." One hand slipped behind the teddy bear to cover her stomach. She was already prone to crying fits, pacing, nausea and her moods and sense of self control went up and down like a yo-yo. Not the state of mind in which she wanted to face someone as volatile as Chase Collins, especially since he was partly responsible for her current state. The both of them flailing at each other would only make things worse.
She propped herself up on her elbow. "I didn't expect... he just said that it was personal?" She smiled a little, to think that he was keeping it close to the vest. Perhaps for reasons of his own, but still. That was more consideration than she'd expected. "It... well. I don't suppose there's any way for it not to be personal." Ginny blushed. It was intensely personal for her; she wasn't the sort of person who talked about her sex life easily. Now that she had one. Even before when it had been just the idea of one. "You didn't know. I didn't know who I was after, or what was going on, only that someone was breaking a lot of rules and I was empowered to use my best judgment on how to stop them if it was serious." She chose her last few words with delicate care. Caleb and Pogue were nice guys, and she didn't want them getting the impression that she was trying to be a one-woman vigilante team.
"Chase is... A lot of things. Unstable. Emotional. But what happened, happened because I let myself get carried away, and because he couldn't stop himself. We both got carried away. So, I do believe that he didn't mean for it to happen. As for the rest... I don't know."
Caleb hadn't meant to keep Pogue out of the loop. That bit of information had come only just a little before they started this way, and his brain was working in overload, trying to process and find what to do (which he admittedly still had no clue about) and... no, Chase Collins was not good news any day, and this mess was ... bad. And complicated. And Caleb wanted to know what was going on, that's why he was talking with Chase, and no, he wasn't too happy about that either. But he couldn't just attack him, and he couldn't just ignore him, and while still bad, communication seemed the only possible alternative.
And it was confusing, that was for sure. Because while he'd be the first to point out he was not expert on such things? Between the way Chase had talked about her, and the way Ginny was reacting... God.
"No. He can't stop himself, some of the time." He registered how that sounded and rolled his eyes. "I mean with anything. Causing harm to people. Using. It figures he wouldn't be able to stop himself..." One-shoulder shrug. No first-hand experience, and the mere thought of that gave him a chill. "I'm sorry you're the one bearing the consequences." He knew how that went. Differently, yes, but he had been stuck with consequences of Chase's actions, direct and not. He kind of understood. Only he didn't understand at all. And he hadn't registered at all the bloodlines and magic inheritance aspect of it all. But that could wait for another time, right?
"Gin... it's up to you. I don't think he'll give up on searching, but things can be stalled for a while. Until you figure out what to do. Tracks can be covered even better; or you can contact him again." Quietly, carefully. "Only thing I can suggest is not to have him here... and possibly not to go all the way to Ipswich yourself. Somewhere else. And possibly not alone." Because no, he didn't react well to surprises, Christ, he didn't react well to almost anything. "And maybe somebody else present will tone down the... mutual flailing." Swallowing. "Somebody with power enough to restrain him if he flips off. Which, until about yesterday, I'd have quoted myself only, but, if you can pull that kind of spell from the first time... my guess is there are others who can keep your safe" Cover all bases. Because it wasn't right to put her in danger, nor the child. And his mind was still reeling, there was so much that was again strange and dangerous and mysterious that he'd thought known... Not now. "But you don't have to do anything that you don't want to."
She looked so... frail. He didn't want to put any more strain on her, he really didn't. Not when she was already knocked out hard. But not alerting her, not giving the choice to her was just postponing trouble. And making it worse. Always the one who does the right thing, even when it's hard, wasn't that what Pogue had told him, once? It sucked worse when it was hard for others.
Ginny thought that over. Sighed. "It should be comforting, you know. That he wouldn't give up." She snorted. "So many fathers out there who want nothing to do with their unplanned children." Not unwanted. Because she didn't know if this child was unwanted by him or not, and it didn't matter anyway. Unplanned, maybe, yes, a little unwanted by her, but she wasn't quite yet in the place where she could give this up. Maybe she would never be. She didn't know. As of this moment there was no guarantee that she would or could carry to term, anyway. Even with all the technology available to them, birth was not a sure thing. For mother or child. But she didn't say that. The poor boys looked like they were dealing with enough already.
"Are you volunteering yourselves?" she asked, smiling. It was sweet. "The families could keep me safe, yes. He doesn't know who they are. Doesn't know they exist, well. Although I imagine he could extrapolate, if he's coherent enough for that and not to put it all on me." She tried to remember, at least a little bit, what his clinical symptoms were like. He'd been perfectly coherent and seemed normal as long as he was pretending; she had known him for far less time as the broken, mentally shattered person he actually was. Anger, that was one symptom. And the willingness to direct it almost anywhere at a moment's notice. A sense of unfairness in the world.
A sense of unfairness that, sort of, was true. And yet wasn't in the way he thought it was. Not directed at him. The world was sometimes hard, that was all. Ginny sighed. "I should talk to him, I guess. It will keep him calmer." It would keep him from getting more and more persistent at least, coming after her when whatever momentum he was building up broke inside his mind. "We can... a park. Somewhere outdoors, under the sun. It will help me stay calm, anyway, and I think it might help him. Humans, even broken ones, respond better in sunlight..." her fingers poked through the shawl and did a little pattern in the air.
Pogue was amazed at how calm she could be. At how easily, or at least how easily she seemed to be willing to meet with Chase. The psychotic freak who had gotten her pregnant, and that was still a thought he wanted to steer completely around because it required thinking about the process of getting anyone pregnant. Which he still didn't want to think about. In a somewhat desperate effort to change the subject in his head he started to change the subject out of it. "Are you looking for him to be a part of this?" he asked, which might be a crass question but could also be a genuine issue. He knew how he would have felt if Kate had suddenly turned up pregnant.
"Because... as far as I know, Chase is in this for Chase. Not anyone else." Which brought something else to mind. "We don't even know what he wants, if..." he looked over at Caleb. "You're sure he didn't mean for this to happen?" It was twisted. And insane. But at this point Pogue wouldn't have put anything past Chase. Even getting a girl pregnant for some strange purpose. Even if he couldn't think of what that might be right now.
"As sure as I can be of anything with him?" Which. Not much, but somewhat. "He said he wanted to talk, and didn't elaborate on his intentions. I don't know." Caleb looked sideways at his friend and then closed his eyes, the image of bandages and respirator across his face superimposing, the half-gasped words. He's more powerful than you can imagine. He shook his head, trying to clear the memory away. The guilt. Chase was back, and Pogue had to, one way or another, deal with him again. And whose fault is that?
Caleb focused on Ginny, or tried to. "Up to you, Gin. Us, your family... families? So it runs... ... never mind, now that we know, we can talk about it later. When things are less... immediately complicated." Yes, he had questions. Yes, they could wait. "He's... heh. Calm isn't a precise word. As erratic as I recall. And a bit more... subtle. He didn't used to be subtle." Look down, nod. "Somewhere outdoors makes sense." Small twitch of his lips. Possibly not a place with too many children running. It would be clear enough without additional reminders? "Somewhere between here and there, or a bit to the side. Maybe you could talk with your family over the next few days and call me? I'll... sort of figure out how to let him know." Unless she wanted to call Chase directly, which she always had as an option; he probably didn't need to say it. "If you'd rather have help with him staying away after... let us know." Pogue's question was valid. Seeing as it was Chase they were talking about. Even if she... did care for him.
He can be nice company, when he sets his mind on that. Pity that it was only pretend. Regretfully, really.
And good god, if Ginny was going to give up the child... he'd definitely try to make sure that it didn't grow up in the darkness and alone as Chase had. It was just wrong. Vicious circles. That said, he did trust Ginny to know about that part, at least. Or... something. They'd probably be talking again. So many things.
"It does run down family lines, yes," she smiled a little more, on steadier ground. Not talking about the child, at least not directly. Nor how there came to be one. "Your lore probably had that one right, anyway. Subtle..." Distracted by Chase. He could be very distracting.
"I don't know where that would come from. He was sort of subtle, when we met, at least the first time. He went for months before he gave in to what were probably his real impulses." Which showed a distinct will to apply control over impulses. Reason over instinct? No, this wasn't instinct, this was damage done. "But it doesn't sound like he was all that subtle with you." Faint smile, there. "Maybe he's settling down in his old age?"
No, she didn't believe that. "What happened between you and him changed him. What I did to him..." and she wasn't proud of that, not at all. "Probably changed him too. What we did... I don't know. I don't know what kind of effect that's had on him. Maybe to ..." Subtle. She wasn't sure. "I don't know. And no, after we talk I don't know what he'll do." And she was a little afraid of that. Her fingers curled tighter into the teddy bear. The reality of the situation was starting to crash in on the well-trained brave front she was putting up again. She could talk about how to handle him and go through psychiatric disorders but when it came down to it, yes, Chase was unstable and dangerous and powerful and she was pregnant with his child and somehow she was going to have to deal with that, and possibly alone, because she didn't know if he was up to it. Sane enough for it.
There was only so much of this Pogue could take. He went over and knelt down by her bed, one hand rubbing her shoulder a little. It might be only a shade more intrusive than he would have been normally, but it was the kind of gesture he'd learned from dating Kate for a couple years. Whether it was that girls liked it or that he was becoming more sensitive to such things in people not of the four families, he didn't know, and it didn't really matter anyway. He stayed with her, looked over at Caleb.
"Well, it's not like ... Yeah. If he knew, when he found out about... yeah. That's the kind of thing that would change a person."
Caleb smiled a bit at Pogue when he looked up at him. It was good. The same impulse that had gotten him to hug when they came in. She looked like she could use every little bit of strength she could get.
His voice was as steady and reassuring as he could make it. "Don't worry that much about what he will do. Focus on figuring out what you want to do and what you want to happen. If he blows up or something like that, we'll handle him." Possibly somewhat by persuasion, if they worked on it (or, if I work on it. Great.) and, if need by, by strength. Back then, with the ascension issue, Caleb had been the only one with powers that could compare; now all four of them were in full possession, and Caleb was... well. He had already demonstrated he was stronger. And they had the advantage of long practice in working together.
Stop that. It was not a good idea to get excited at the possible use of it. A lot of use. One hand's fingernails dig into his palm, and he took a breath and finished his thought. "You're not alone." What Pogue was showing by touch, Caleb voiced.
Which maybe sounded really strange. They'd known Chase for days, Ginny for a couple of months or so, and what had happened was, technically, not something they should be interfering, in the relationship between two people. But they knew what Chase was, how he was. And in a way, screwed up and everything, he was one of them. Not in a good way, but the legacy that they were living in bound them. And Ginny was a friend. And definitely in need. So no. She wasn't alone. None of them was, and that's how it worked.
Ginny reached up and covered Pogue's hand with hers, smiling at them. Grateful for their support. "I do want to meet with him," she said, making that decision almost in that instance and realizing, somewhat startled, that it was true. She did have some good memories, his smile, the way the light reflected off his eyes. Pretty. Surface pretty, all of those memories, or maybe the kind of pretty like broken glass in the sunlight. "I'll meet with him. There's a park ... actually, there's a park not too far from here, it has a picnic area and some benches in the shade. A big covering thing. That would work." And it had been used in some of the smaller, teaching type rituals before. That might give her an advantage, too, if Chase tried anything. Pogue's hand tightened a little on her shoulder but there was very little he could say to object.
"And... we'll see what he does. What he wants to do about this..." One crazy thought flickered through her mind and was quashed almost as soon as it had arisen. "There are options. For him, there are more options. He doesn't have to stick around if he doesn't want to." And a part of her didn't want him to. Was afraid of what he might do, especially if she couldn't stop him.
She might not be able to stop him right now, but again, she wasn't doing this alone. "Chase wants to hog control. I don't think it's even conscious. But it's not good - even for him." Caleb's eyes sought Ginny's. "He doesn't have all the control. He doesn't even have most of it. Whatever happens... it's only fair if you have equal shares. Whether or not you want me, us, there when you meet, or your family? I promise, I'll make sure it stays even. You get to make the choices for yourself." And he meant that.
He didn't quite understand the certainty, but he accepted it, and believed it, that she wanted to meet him.
She looked tired. Even more tired than when they'd come in. He waited for her to acknowledge his words, one way or another, then he changed the topic. To lighter things. Mutual friends, people he recalled her being close to, back when she was around Ipswich. It did hit him again that she had been close to the four of them, and it hadn't looked odd to him because everybody wanted to be around them, sometimes.
But she had done no harm. Her parents... her mother. Hadn't looked at them as though they were somebody to be wary of. Or somebody disgusting. Or somebody to not let around her daughter in this state. Caleb shook his head. Not now. Deal with the most dangerous factor now, sort out the long-term consequences later. Or they'd all go crazy with everything at once. Small talk was best, for now.
She was tired. But small talk, them being around, her not being totally alone within the circle and the coven helped. Having friends her own age around who could understand her panic helped. Especially who had known Chase. Who knew what he had been like, what he could be like, sort of. They hadn't known what he was like back then. "It was amazing, kind of, how he could be so... sweet. So normal. With all that underneath, and he managed to hold it back for months, at least around me... He was ... gentlemanly." It was a little drifty, her voice. Pogue reached down for the blanket folded at the foot of the bed and tucked it over her shoulders.
"Maybe you should get some sleep, huh?" he murmured. "Give us a call when you know when..."
"Friday," she murmured back. "Or Saturday. Something... soon." Ginny yawned. He was right, they were right. She was tired.
"Talk about it with your folks, too, okay? And call when you figure it out, and when you decide who'll be there with you." Caleb's words were quiet. Soft, even, and he leaned forward to hold her shoulder for a moment, through the blanket. "You can think more when you're awake, rested up. You know how to reach us. It'll be okay."
She was practically drowsing off, he thought, and he smiled down at her and said good-bye-for-now, and started out. Downstairs, he did look around for her mother. And left his number with her, too. He almost started to ask questions, or explain, but words were... hard to come. He just asked that if they needed something, or if she thought Ginny could use some company, she could call him. Which was true. He had the suspicion that she caught more, but she didn't call him out on it.
He looked over at Pogue, if he could think of anything else that they should say or do... today. And they were ready to go.
broken_circles.Chase Collins always made things complicated.
Some of that wasn't his fault; it wasn't his fault that he'd grown up as he had; nor that he'd been ignorant until too late. Nor that he was bringing news that changed what they'd 'known' for too long; first by showing up, now with knowledge about others. Some things, some things were his fault. Like getting precious close to killing Kate, Sarah, and Pogue. Like getting another witch pregnant.
Another witch that Caleb still considered somebody he liked. Maybe a bit of a friend.
And somebody that he didn't need a spell to find. Just a phonecall. Which he didn't tell Chase; Chase didn't ask, either. It was better that way; a spell would complicate things that were already edgy and messed up. A call... was easier. Except this, it wasn't a conversation for the phone. Too big. Chase. What he'd done. Power.
Caleb was very, very glad that she agreed to let them drive there for a meeting. And he was very, very glad that Pogue had agreed to come with him. Pogue had been right, Caleb was the one who was talking with Chase. Fixing things up, if possible, could rightfully be his responsibility alone. But also, the information concerned them all. And, most of all, he was glad to have his friend with him. It made a difference between facing the unknown alone and with... the person he trusted the most in the world. Huge difference.
The small car ate up the miles in its usual smooth, exhilarating way. And then he pulled over at the address Ginny had given him, killed the engine, and looked over.
"So. Let's see... how this goes?"
"All right..." Pogue shrugged, his expression showing clearly that he was dubious about this whole thing. But also that he was resolved to go with Caleb. It was Ginny, and she'd been a friend. And he'd known what Chase was, and he shouldn't have done this to her.
Ginny was listening to Blackmore's Night when they pulled up; something fitting her mood. Maudlin and beautiful.
This wasn't supposed to happen. Or, it wasn't supposed to happen this way. Or something like that. The sex part had been bad enough, although parts of it had been... memorable. They were memorable. She still remembered the way her body felt, too hot and light and full of water for her to stay in one place, remembered the way he had felt on top of her, surprisingly light. How he had felt inside of her. How it had hurt, a little, and then it had turned into something else. That wasn't how it was supposed to go.
Afterwards, she had told him, he shouldn't have done that. She had told him, it was done, and it was memorable, and she had touched his cheek and they had parted ways knowing it wasn't going to happen again. With her knowing, as much as she could that she wouldn't see him again. She hadn't been careful, but it was one time. It was her first time. Nothing was going to happen, right? The odds of anything happening were ridiculously low.
Apparently not.
One hand flattened over her barely still flat stomach as she fought down nausea. Ginny was so, so scared. She was doing this all alone, well, with her parents, who were probably disappointed in her even if they didn't show it, and she was terrified. Of carrying that weight of a baby around. Of birth, god, she wasn't ready for this. She was terrified, and starting to cry again. She didn't want this to be happening. She wanted to wake up now.
Ginny's mother met them at the door, and a man who was probably Ginny's father glowered at them from the kitchen, evidently assuming one of them to be Chase.
Caleb was... He didn't know what exactly to expect. Chase's last snap about fucking a virgin and getting her pregnant was ringing through his head. As was the fact that Ginny had let him know, but not how to find her. Complications within complications, and Ginny was a year younger than them. And the rest of it. Did she want the child and want to keep Chase away from herself? Was she as unsure about everything as the rest of them? Well, there was one way to find out, and.
He walked in step with Pogue; it was unconscious. He knocked on the door, and blinked, surprised at the strange face, and nodded greeting. "Hi. I'm... my name is Caleb Danvers, and this is Pogue Parry. We're friends of Ginny's. I called earlier, she said it would be alright..." Why yes, the glower confused him a bit; he had no idea who knew what, and what was what... Actually, that was rather disorienting. He knew how things were at Ipswich. He knew how they were at Spenser; and he knew the areas that were his habitat at Harvard. Oh well. He'd deal. Pogue kind of waved a little behind them, wondering what Ginny had told her parents.
Ginny's mother nodded, long blonde and slightly pale gray hair swaying around her. Evidently where Ginny had gotten her looks from. And her taste in clothes, from the way she held herself and what she was wearing. "She mentioned you would be coming by, yes..." Behind her, Ginny's father continued to glower. "I'm Beth, this is Michael." And then, upon catching sight of her husband's look over her shoulder. "Oh, stop that."
She looked over the boys. Pogue did his best to look harmless. She looked at them as though she could see not just who they were, but what. But all she said was. "She's upstairs, probably in her room."
"Nice to meet you, ma'am. Sir." Caleb nodded again, at both of them, then smiled a bit. Not quite nervously, but. "Thank you." A beat, then he came in, took his cue from the shoes cupboard behind the door and kicked off his pair, starting upstairs in socks. He figured, if no doors were open to clue him in, upstairs, he could always come back down to ask. Pogue peeled off his boots in somewhat more time, a little self-conscious about the hole in the heel of one sock. Not that the MacAdamses seemed to be paying attention to the state of his socks, but it was the principle of the thing.
But there was no need. A door was ajar, and the music he'd caught from outside was coming out of there. Renaissance folk-rock. His lips twitched up. No wonder she had tolerated Nicky's. As compared to some dancing places and such. He stepped to he door, looked sideways at Pogue, and knocked again. Pogue shifted to tug the hole a little further under his foot and stared at the ground.
Ginny peeled the door open and stood mostly behind it, peeking out at them. She hadn't really expected them to come all the way over. And here she was, barefoot and pregnant, and thinking that was enough to make her have to stifle a slightly hysterical giggle. She was barefoot by choice. The pregnant, not so much, but the barefoot at least was. Her skirts were gray and soft and covered in embroidery, the one underneath gray mostly by being worn and washed so many times. Her blouse was too large for her at the neck and hanging off one shoulder, revealing a deep blue camisole top. The whole effect would probably have been sexy if it weren't for the red eyes and the way she moved to grab a shawl by the door and wrap it around herself, as though she'd been immodest.
"Hey..." Quietly, and then she stepped aside and held the door open with a slender hand that might have been a little bonier than the last time they'd met. As they walked in she switched hands, one to clutch the door and one to clutch her shawl closed, and then again to turn down the music with the hand that had been on the door.
She felt so scattered. It showed, she was sure, in the way she moved. Her mind wandering, most of the confidence she had felt the last time she met them, gone. In the back of her mind she wondered what they must think of her. They had to be looking differently at her. One hand smoothed the blouse over her stomach again, her fingers curling tight in the knit holes of her shawl.
"Hey." Quietly, but with a small greeting smile. Warm, not cocky. His eyes stayed with her as she was more or less floundering, in her own room. The tired look. The red eyes, oh, he didn't like that at all. Whatever had happened, she'd not meant for things to be like this. His face shifted a little, eyes drawing down with compassion, and he stepped closer - slowly, giving her enough of a chance to duck away, or even twitch, or otherwise indicate that right now he would be more intimidating than comforting. And as no such came, he wrapped his arms loosely, softly around her shoulders.
"Oh, Gin." What did he do to you? Just held her for a few moments, then added quietly, "I know." Which was not too informative, but it was a beginning. She looked awkward, lost enough; if he could spare her the need to have to explain... at least tell them, he would.
Ginny curled her fingers into the fabric of his shirt, knuckles pressed against his back. She held herself apart for a moment or two and then sighed, pressing her cheek against his chest and turning her head to smile a little at a stone-faced, jaw-clenched Pogue. It took her a couple of minutes of swallowing and breathing before she could bring herself to speak.
"I suppose..." she took a breath in the middle. "I could sell this to Lifetime. They pay gobs of money for this sort of thing, don't they?" From Pogue tolooking up at Caleb and back to Pogue again, forcing a smile.
Pogue forced one back for her, but his shoulders did relax a little. If she could joke about it it couldn't be that bad, could it?
"One day, maybe." Caleb smiled a little, too. "When you've come up with a twist for the ending which will make them sit up and take notice." Fictional twist, that was. Of course. He held her a little longer, just letting her know. She wasn't alone, and she didn't have to be. Even if guys could only know or understand so much, still. Then he nudged her a little towards where she could sit, letting her choose her seat. Computer desk. He'd thought she'd choose a spot where she could more lounge, or ... be overall more comfortable. But she settled, one foot tucked under the opposite leg, under the skirts, and seemed comfortable enough.
He looked around, and out of sufficiently developed dorm-rooms habit, sat on the bed. Mindful of the covers, outside clothes and all; the creak of his friend's weight beside him ... well. Familiar. Welcome.
... and then Caleb blinked, and shuffled. He had no specific idea what to do next. He'd not expected to find her this ... way. Drained, upset. Well. One of the reasons he'd wanted to talk to her was to warn her, might as well get this bit out of the way? "I... I know, because Chase showed up to ask us to find you." A beat, and he added, wryly, but not ... in any way resentfully for keeping that she knew from them; not right now. More along the lines of a risk, in case Chase had been lying or misled and she thought him crazy. "Find you magically. Which I thought wouldn't be a good idea." Understatement of the month? "And I thought you should know. He said if we didn't help, he'd go for a private investigator, or something like that."
The music from the stereo filled the next few moments.
When I chose to believe
Love like magic
Casts a spell
Sometimes leaving scars
I guess it's just as well
Caleb was paying more attention to Ginny than the music anyway. Right?
She smiled a little as she listened to the music player. Silly prescient program. "Magically." She gave it a pause before she continued. "Well. I suppose that was the only cat I had in that particular bag anyway." But GInny did tuck her other leg under her skirts and pull herself up a little straighter. Her face pulled tighter, more formal. More strained.
"Was there anything you wanted to know about that aspect of ... things ..."
Which was when it occurred to her. That aspect of things. Not that she'd thought he'd planned it or that anyone had planned it but that they were making a baby. A child whose magical bloodlines would be mixed, hers and his, corrupted and twisted and hers still pure if faded. Full of life. And on the heels of that was the thought that they were making, had made, a baby. A tiny person who would grow up to be a person who might sit across from her the way they were doing now and the room spun around her. Again.
"I'm... I'm sorry," she murmured, as both boys leaned forward as she pressed her fingertips to her temple, trying to steady herself somehow. "I... magically. He could, of course, if he wanted to. If he knew how." Blood of his blood. The child was probably old enough. Or would be, soon. Oh god. A child.
"Hey. You need a cup of water or something?" Caleb wanted to kick himself. He'd... dropped quite a lot all at the same time. And she was so... Cats and bags and even Chase weren't as important. She was right here and far from feeling too well, by the looks of it. "Or to lie down?" He frowned at her uncertain expression, then did cross to her and get her to bed. Legs up, propped on the pillows. Then pulled up the two other seats - from the computer desk where she'd just been, and the papasan chair, for himself and Pogue. Or rather, each of them pulled one.
When the shuffling was done, he leaned forward, close, so she didn't have to make too much of an effort listening or anything. "I don't know what Chase knows. But," he looked sideways at his friend to correct him, he'd been there, "I don't think he was looking for information how to do it. He didn't think he could do it alone, and wanted help. And we don't have all that much reason to trust him, and seeking out that way... It's a more than slight intrusion in privacy, to say it mildly. Didn't want to do it blindly; wouldn't for anybody, but Chase is..." One shoulder shrugged. "Chase." Crazy, fucked up, broken, alone, unpredictable. Powerful, addicted, sliding in and out of control. Unlike years before, grasping for that control, instead of kicking it at every chance. "I don't know how much you know him, but my guess would be enough." By how much Chase knew about her. He did know Ginny... as she usually was, enough to know that she'd have picked up no less on Chase than he on her.
"About the rest..." He gave her a sheepish smile. "I want to know enough that we'd be still talking next month, not to mention question from Pogue, the other two, their dads... And that can all wait. Unless there's something you think important to tell us now, or something like that."
He was talking too much. He knew that. But his mind was working on overload and... if something important got skipped, he could always ask again later, right?
Ginny settled into the bed with a grateful smile at both of them, glad to be at rest. An amusd smile at Caleb, being so attentive; possibly he was a little too used to taking care of women. She pulled her teddy bear down to wrap her arms around it. Something to give her a bit of an anchor. Her shawl fell over her wrists, feet tucked up beneath her skirts.
"Chase..." Chase is Chase. That was a pretty good summation of the situation, all things considered. "I do know him. I know him... well." And not just in the Biblical sense. She'd gotten a taste of what she'd inflicted on him, and it hadn't been pretty. And she'd also met the person he'd pretended to be, and maybe they should know that she knew that, come to think of it. "I guess you could say I know both him and the person he likes to pretend to be, pretty well. We went out for a few months."
Pogue blinked. Caleb blinked. Pogue shook his head after a moment. "I'm sorry, I think I still have water in my ears, it sounded like you said you dated him for a few months." For which he was promptly smacked on the shoulder by Caleb.
She giggled a bit at that. "We did." And now it was probably confession time. "I knew who he was when I met him. Probably best not to ask how. A friend of my mother's is the short version, she asked my family to keep an eye on him after he'd ... done some things. I didn't know the details at the time. I .. contrived." Yes, she was going to admit that. "To meet him. Talk with him. I don't remember..." she slowed down and hugged the bear tighter as she told this part of it. "I don't remember who asked who out first. We just sort of hooked up, like you do. We went to the formal together. He asked, that time. Afterwards, we went out just to walk and wound up in this gazebo place. That was when... the first time he changed. I think he'd decided he was going to, um. Attack me. Days before that, he just wanted to wait till it was right for him or something."
Pogue and Caleb both looked like they wanted to either kill him or be sick or both. Pogue, in particular, was looking murderous. Ginny was talking more to the top of the bear's head by now. "I did a spell... I didn't think I could. It was one we'd discussed, um." No, not her and Chase. "My mother and grandmother and I. It brings the sins of the past to haunt a person, threefold. Kind of like instant karma, just add magic. Of course, there's no way to use it on someone without it being used on you, too. That was how I learned what he'd done to his parents. To you," she looked sadly at Pogue, at Caleb in turn. "And you, and your girlfriends. And other people."
"It hurt. A lot." She swallowed back a couple of tears. "After that, he ran off. I didn't know where to until he showed up again weeks ago."
Caleb stared for a bit. Then ran his hand over his face, over his hair, and back down, index finger a thumb pinching his chin, pulling it down a bit. His voice was a little subdued. "He ... killed at least one kid. Jesus, Ginny." He'd taken a decent beating, Pogue had been worse. The girls, spiders, anaphylactic shock... "I'm sorry. If I'd known you were going to be dealing with him... I'd..." What? She'd not told them about using magic, either, about any of it, and none of them were all willing to talk about it, or what had happened those few days... "... have warned you." The ending to that was weak, but... he should have been able to do something.
He rose, frustrated at himself, and made a few paces. Which weren't exactly angry, more frustrated at himself, and careful in her room, because it was... well. A girl's room. Crossed to the window, and leaned his forehead against the glass pane for a moment. "He tried to... attack you. He got hit with that. And he came back?" If that wasn't some kind of ... screwed up, or various kinds of screwed up, Caleb didn't know what was.
He added quietly, "if you don't feel like sharing the rest... or, you know. What actually happened, you don't have to? I think..." Small shrug. "Not that he came out and said... Until he knew I'd figured it out, by the way." Wry non-smiling twist of his lips. "Small favors, I guess. But not like he's bragging or anything. He said it's... personal. I wouldn't leave it alone." Not that he wasn't curious. Not that knowledge would be remiss. But he didn't want her to put herself through the wringer any more.
"I don't know... he's harder to figure out than he was before. But whatever happened..." Wry. "He didn't mean it to come to this. And he said he wanted to talk. And I'm still not sure that would be a good idea... for your sake. I'd say, unless you want to, but covering up your tracks as you did seems rather indicative of that." Unless he was wrong. He'd turned out to be wrong about many things in this mess.
Pogue was still recovering from the first shock of what kind of spell she'd done, what that would do to a person, when he went through to the second, following Caleb's line of thought to the conclusion. The idea of Chase in love with anyone was, well. Those words just didn't go in that order.
Not only did Chase come back, he'd come back and he'd ... Pogue's brain stopped working at that point in self-defense.
And how did Caleb know what Chase had meant to do or not meant to do? Granted, it was hard to imagine Chase intending to knock anyone up. But most of this was telling Pogue that Caleb had been talking to Chase more than he'd thought, and that worried him. Chase was bad news any way you told it, and he didn't like not knowing what his friend was up to with the crazy.
Ginny only smiled. "I covered my tracks because Chase isn't the... the best at dealing with surprises even under normal circumstances. This isn't something I want him worrying or flailing about in close proximity to me." One hand slipped behind the teddy bear to cover her stomach. She was already prone to crying fits, pacing, nausea and her moods and sense of self control went up and down like a yo-yo. Not the state of mind in which she wanted to face someone as volatile as Chase Collins, especially since he was partly responsible for her current state. The both of them flailing at each other would only make things worse.
She propped herself up on her elbow. "I didn't expect... he just said that it was personal?" She smiled a little, to think that he was keeping it close to the vest. Perhaps for reasons of his own, but still. That was more consideration than she'd expected. "It... well. I don't suppose there's any way for it not to be personal." Ginny blushed. It was intensely personal for her; she wasn't the sort of person who talked about her sex life easily. Now that she had one. Even before when it had been just the idea of one. "You didn't know. I didn't know who I was after, or what was going on, only that someone was breaking a lot of rules and I was empowered to use my best judgment on how to stop them if it was serious." She chose her last few words with delicate care. Caleb and Pogue were nice guys, and she didn't want them getting the impression that she was trying to be a one-woman vigilante team.
"Chase is... A lot of things. Unstable. Emotional. But what happened, happened because I let myself get carried away, and because he couldn't stop himself. We both got carried away. So, I do believe that he didn't mean for it to happen. As for the rest... I don't know."
Caleb hadn't meant to keep Pogue out of the loop. That bit of information had come only just a little before they started this way, and his brain was working in overload, trying to process and find what to do (which he admittedly still had no clue about) and... no, Chase Collins was not good news any day, and this mess was ... bad. And complicated. And Caleb wanted to know what was going on, that's why he was talking with Chase, and no, he wasn't too happy about that either. But he couldn't just attack him, and he couldn't just ignore him, and while still bad, communication seemed the only possible alternative.
And it was confusing, that was for sure. Because while he'd be the first to point out he was not expert on such things? Between the way Chase had talked about her, and the way Ginny was reacting... God.
"No. He can't stop himself, some of the time." He registered how that sounded and rolled his eyes. "I mean with anything. Causing harm to people. Using. It figures he wouldn't be able to stop himself..." One-shoulder shrug. No first-hand experience, and the mere thought of that gave him a chill. "I'm sorry you're the one bearing the consequences." He knew how that went. Differently, yes, but he had been stuck with consequences of Chase's actions, direct and not. He kind of understood. Only he didn't understand at all. And he hadn't registered at all the bloodlines and magic inheritance aspect of it all. But that could wait for another time, right?
"Gin... it's up to you. I don't think he'll give up on searching, but things can be stalled for a while. Until you figure out what to do. Tracks can be covered even better; or you can contact him again." Quietly, carefully. "Only thing I can suggest is not to have him here... and possibly not to go all the way to Ipswich yourself. Somewhere else. And possibly not alone." Because no, he didn't react well to surprises, Christ, he didn't react well to almost anything. "And maybe somebody else present will tone down the... mutual flailing." Swallowing. "Somebody with power enough to restrain him if he flips off. Which, until about yesterday, I'd have quoted myself only, but, if you can pull that kind of spell from the first time... my guess is there are others who can keep your safe" Cover all bases. Because it wasn't right to put her in danger, nor the child. And his mind was still reeling, there was so much that was again strange and dangerous and mysterious that he'd thought known... Not now. "But you don't have to do anything that you don't want to."
She looked so... frail. He didn't want to put any more strain on her, he really didn't. Not when she was already knocked out hard. But not alerting her, not giving the choice to her was just postponing trouble. And making it worse. Always the one who does the right thing, even when it's hard, wasn't that what Pogue had told him, once? It sucked worse when it was hard for others.
Ginny thought that over. Sighed. "It should be comforting, you know. That he wouldn't give up." She snorted. "So many fathers out there who want nothing to do with their unplanned children." Not unwanted. Because she didn't know if this child was unwanted by him or not, and it didn't matter anyway. Unplanned, maybe, yes, a little unwanted by her, but she wasn't quite yet in the place where she could give this up. Maybe she would never be. She didn't know. As of this moment there was no guarantee that she would or could carry to term, anyway. Even with all the technology available to them, birth was not a sure thing. For mother or child. But she didn't say that. The poor boys looked like they were dealing with enough already.
"Are you volunteering yourselves?" she asked, smiling. It was sweet. "The families could keep me safe, yes. He doesn't know who they are. Doesn't know they exist, well. Although I imagine he could extrapolate, if he's coherent enough for that and not to put it all on me." She tried to remember, at least a little bit, what his clinical symptoms were like. He'd been perfectly coherent and seemed normal as long as he was pretending; she had known him for far less time as the broken, mentally shattered person he actually was. Anger, that was one symptom. And the willingness to direct it almost anywhere at a moment's notice. A sense of unfairness in the world.
A sense of unfairness that, sort of, was true. And yet wasn't in the way he thought it was. Not directed at him. The world was sometimes hard, that was all. Ginny sighed. "I should talk to him, I guess. It will keep him calmer." It would keep him from getting more and more persistent at least, coming after her when whatever momentum he was building up broke inside his mind. "We can... a park. Somewhere outdoors, under the sun. It will help me stay calm, anyway, and I think it might help him. Humans, even broken ones, respond better in sunlight..." her fingers poked through the shawl and did a little pattern in the air.
Pogue was amazed at how calm she could be. At how easily, or at least how easily she seemed to be willing to meet with Chase. The psychotic freak who had gotten her pregnant, and that was still a thought he wanted to steer completely around because it required thinking about the process of getting anyone pregnant. Which he still didn't want to think about. In a somewhat desperate effort to change the subject in his head he started to change the subject out of it. "Are you looking for him to be a part of this?" he asked, which might be a crass question but could also be a genuine issue. He knew how he would have felt if Kate had suddenly turned up pregnant.
"Because... as far as I know, Chase is in this for Chase. Not anyone else." Which brought something else to mind. "We don't even know what he wants, if..." he looked over at Caleb. "You're sure he didn't mean for this to happen?" It was twisted. And insane. But at this point Pogue wouldn't have put anything past Chase. Even getting a girl pregnant for some strange purpose. Even if he couldn't think of what that might be right now.
"As sure as I can be of anything with him?" Which. Not much, but somewhat. "He said he wanted to talk, and didn't elaborate on his intentions. I don't know." Caleb looked sideways at his friend and then closed his eyes, the image of bandages and respirator across his face superimposing, the half-gasped words. He's more powerful than you can imagine. He shook his head, trying to clear the memory away. The guilt. Chase was back, and Pogue had to, one way or another, deal with him again. And whose fault is that?
Caleb focused on Ginny, or tried to. "Up to you, Gin. Us, your family... families? So it runs... ... never mind, now that we know, we can talk about it later. When things are less... immediately complicated." Yes, he had questions. Yes, they could wait. "He's... heh. Calm isn't a precise word. As erratic as I recall. And a bit more... subtle. He didn't used to be subtle." Look down, nod. "Somewhere outdoors makes sense." Small twitch of his lips. Possibly not a place with too many children running. It would be clear enough without additional reminders? "Somewhere between here and there, or a bit to the side. Maybe you could talk with your family over the next few days and call me? I'll... sort of figure out how to let him know." Unless she wanted to call Chase directly, which she always had as an option; he probably didn't need to say it. "If you'd rather have help with him staying away after... let us know." Pogue's question was valid. Seeing as it was Chase they were talking about. Even if she... did care for him.
He can be nice company, when he sets his mind on that. Pity that it was only pretend. Regretfully, really.
And good god, if Ginny was going to give up the child... he'd definitely try to make sure that it didn't grow up in the darkness and alone as Chase had. It was just wrong. Vicious circles. That said, he did trust Ginny to know about that part, at least. Or... something. They'd probably be talking again. So many things.
"It does run down family lines, yes," she smiled a little more, on steadier ground. Not talking about the child, at least not directly. Nor how there came to be one. "Your lore probably had that one right, anyway. Subtle..." Distracted by Chase. He could be very distracting.
"I don't know where that would come from. He was sort of subtle, when we met, at least the first time. He went for months before he gave in to what were probably his real impulses." Which showed a distinct will to apply control over impulses. Reason over instinct? No, this wasn't instinct, this was damage done. "But it doesn't sound like he was all that subtle with you." Faint smile, there. "Maybe he's settling down in his old age?"
No, she didn't believe that. "What happened between you and him changed him. What I did to him..." and she wasn't proud of that, not at all. "Probably changed him too. What we did... I don't know. I don't know what kind of effect that's had on him. Maybe to ..." Subtle. She wasn't sure. "I don't know. And no, after we talk I don't know what he'll do." And she was a little afraid of that. Her fingers curled tighter into the teddy bear. The reality of the situation was starting to crash in on the well-trained brave front she was putting up again. She could talk about how to handle him and go through psychiatric disorders but when it came down to it, yes, Chase was unstable and dangerous and powerful and she was pregnant with his child and somehow she was going to have to deal with that, and possibly alone, because she didn't know if he was up to it. Sane enough for it.
There was only so much of this Pogue could take. He went over and knelt down by her bed, one hand rubbing her shoulder a little. It might be only a shade more intrusive than he would have been normally, but it was the kind of gesture he'd learned from dating Kate for a couple years. Whether it was that girls liked it or that he was becoming more sensitive to such things in people not of the four families, he didn't know, and it didn't really matter anyway. He stayed with her, looked over at Caleb.
"Well, it's not like ... Yeah. If he knew, when he found out about... yeah. That's the kind of thing that would change a person."
Caleb smiled a bit at Pogue when he looked up at him. It was good. The same impulse that had gotten him to hug when they came in. She looked like she could use every little bit of strength she could get.
His voice was as steady and reassuring as he could make it. "Don't worry that much about what he will do. Focus on figuring out what you want to do and what you want to happen. If he blows up or something like that, we'll handle him." Possibly somewhat by persuasion, if they worked on it (or, if I work on it. Great.) and, if need by, by strength. Back then, with the ascension issue, Caleb had been the only one with powers that could compare; now all four of them were in full possession, and Caleb was... well. He had already demonstrated he was stronger. And they had the advantage of long practice in working together.
Stop that. It was not a good idea to get excited at the possible use of it. A lot of use. One hand's fingernails dig into his palm, and he took a breath and finished his thought. "You're not alone." What Pogue was showing by touch, Caleb voiced.
Which maybe sounded really strange. They'd known Chase for days, Ginny for a couple of months or so, and what had happened was, technically, not something they should be interfering, in the relationship between two people. But they knew what Chase was, how he was. And in a way, screwed up and everything, he was one of them. Not in a good way, but the legacy that they were living in bound them. And Ginny was a friend. And definitely in need. So no. She wasn't alone. None of them was, and that's how it worked.
Ginny reached up and covered Pogue's hand with hers, smiling at them. Grateful for their support. "I do want to meet with him," she said, making that decision almost in that instance and realizing, somewhat startled, that it was true. She did have some good memories, his smile, the way the light reflected off his eyes. Pretty. Surface pretty, all of those memories, or maybe the kind of pretty like broken glass in the sunlight. "I'll meet with him. There's a park ... actually, there's a park not too far from here, it has a picnic area and some benches in the shade. A big covering thing. That would work." And it had been used in some of the smaller, teaching type rituals before. That might give her an advantage, too, if Chase tried anything. Pogue's hand tightened a little on her shoulder but there was very little he could say to object.
"And... we'll see what he does. What he wants to do about this..." One crazy thought flickered through her mind and was quashed almost as soon as it had arisen. "There are options. For him, there are more options. He doesn't have to stick around if he doesn't want to." And a part of her didn't want him to. Was afraid of what he might do, especially if she couldn't stop him.
She might not be able to stop him right now, but again, she wasn't doing this alone. "Chase wants to hog control. I don't think it's even conscious. But it's not good - even for him." Caleb's eyes sought Ginny's. "He doesn't have all the control. He doesn't even have most of it. Whatever happens... it's only fair if you have equal shares. Whether or not you want me, us, there when you meet, or your family? I promise, I'll make sure it stays even. You get to make the choices for yourself." And he meant that.
He didn't quite understand the certainty, but he accepted it, and believed it, that she wanted to meet him.
She looked tired. Even more tired than when they'd come in. He waited for her to acknowledge his words, one way or another, then he changed the topic. To lighter things. Mutual friends, people he recalled her being close to, back when she was around Ipswich. It did hit him again that she had been close to the four of them, and it hadn't looked odd to him because everybody wanted to be around them, sometimes.
But she had done no harm. Her parents... her mother. Hadn't looked at them as though they were somebody to be wary of. Or somebody disgusting. Or somebody to not let around her daughter in this state. Caleb shook his head. Not now. Deal with the most dangerous factor now, sort out the long-term consequences later. Or they'd all go crazy with everything at once. Small talk was best, for now.
She was tired. But small talk, them being around, her not being totally alone within the circle and the coven helped. Having friends her own age around who could understand her panic helped. Especially who had known Chase. Who knew what he had been like, what he could be like, sort of. They hadn't known what he was like back then. "It was amazing, kind of, how he could be so... sweet. So normal. With all that underneath, and he managed to hold it back for months, at least around me... He was ... gentlemanly." It was a little drifty, her voice. Pogue reached down for the blanket folded at the foot of the bed and tucked it over her shoulders.
"Maybe you should get some sleep, huh?" he murmured. "Give us a call when you know when..."
"Friday," she murmured back. "Or Saturday. Something... soon." Ginny yawned. He was right, they were right. She was tired.
"Talk about it with your folks, too, okay? And call when you figure it out, and when you decide who'll be there with you." Caleb's words were quiet. Soft, even, and he leaned forward to hold her shoulder for a moment, through the blanket. "You can think more when you're awake, rested up. You know how to reach us. It'll be okay."
She was practically drowsing off, he thought, and he smiled down at her and said good-bye-for-now, and started out. Downstairs, he did look around for her mother. And left his number with her, too. He almost started to ask questions, or explain, but words were... hard to come. He just asked that if they needed something, or if she thought Ginny could use some company, she could call him. Which was true. He had the suspicion that she caught more, but she didn't call him out on it.
He looked over at Pogue, if he could think of anything else that they should say or do... today. And they were ready to go.
