"Can you pass me the salt?" I look up from my pancakes and see my dad watching me intently.
I grab the salt and pass it to him across the table. He catches it and goes back to his meal of eggs and bacon as if nothing important is going to happen in a couple hours.
"Your dad has always been one to avoid awkward situations at any cost," my mom says from beside me.
I know it's only my mind fucking with me. I used a lot of magic yesterday and I haven't taken any of my pills. I left them in Berlin.
"So I guess we're just going to act like nothing's happening," I mumble under my breath, but I know he can hear me.
"Do you like your breakfast," he asks instead of acknowledging the elephant in the room.
"Try to break him. He's a little stubborn, but once he starts talking, there's no stopping him," my mom enlightens me.
I know she's not really here, but it's still good advice.
"Dad, you don't want to ask me where I've been or what I've been doing? How about asking me if I'm actually a murderer or if I think I can actually win this case?"
He tries to ignore what I'm saying, but I see his nose twitch.
"You're close to getting him to talk," my mom points out. I growl in annoyance.
"Do you have any of my Olanzapine left?" The room grows even quieter than before and my dad freezes in shock. He looks up at me and raises an eyebrow.
"When did you start taking your meds again," he asks. I knew that would get him talking.
"Look who's finally asking questions," I say sarcastically and he rolls his eyes. He doesn't say anything. He's waiting for me to answer his question.
"I started taking them again while I was in Germany. After I use magic I need to take them. I'm seeing things I shouldn't be seeing right now. That's not a good thing." I finish off with a laugh, but I'm not joking.
I watch my dad get up and he walks out of the kitchen without saying anything. He comes back a couple of seconds later and slides me a bottle of pills.
"Thanks," I tell him as I twist the top off and take a pill. He watches me gulp it down with some orange juice. I guess he still doesn't believe.
I understand why he wouldn't. After the way I freaked out when he suggested I start taking my meds in the past, I'm sure he'd think I'd never want to take them willingly ever again.
"So, what else did you do in Germany," my dad finally asks.
"Other than hide because everyone here thinks I'm a murderer, I've been trying to find who is actually behind all of this. The killings and Markus' death."
"Did you find anything?"
"Yeah, my new friends in Berlin helped me out. I'm going to prove my case and drag that bitch down. I need to. For all of us. I can't stand having Chris, Hanna, and Jaisley behind bars."
Once Gianna and her guards brought me home with my dad, they took Chris into their custody. I didn't even get to say one word to her.
My dad told me Don and Alaric were here, but were told to go back to the pack house. They listened because they didn't want to cause more trouble in the case.
Alaric. I can't help but feel my heart thump crazy at the mention of his name. I can't tell if it's because I'm excited to see him again or if I'm afraid.
I wonder if Gianna had the baby. She didn't look pregnant when she was arresting me.
"I have a question." My dad waits for me to continue. "Did Gianna have the baby?"
I couldn't really understand my dad's reaction to my question. There were many mixed emotions. Sadness, anger, sympathy, rage?
"Gianna had a miscarriage."
I can't believe what I'm hearing. I can imagine the pain Gianna is feeling. Losing her father and her unborn child.
I know I've never liked Gianna, but I sympathize with her. I can only imagine how it would feel if I lost Angie. It hurts even being this far from her, but I know she's safe.
"How did Alaric react," I ask my dad. He must be seriously hurt.
"After the miscarriage, she told Alaric that he wasn't the baby's father."
"What?!" I growl out in anger, almost losing every bit of sympathy I did have for Gianna.
"Why would she do that? Does she not understand how wrong that is? She causes so much pain and doesn't expect it to bite her back in the ass!"
"Hurt people hurt people," my dad says. It's an expression I've always heard him say back where we used to live and when we worked together to put away criminals. I didn't always understand why they would do what they did, but he always said that expression.
Hurt people hurt people. I completely understand it now.
I was hurt after my mother died and I took it out on other people, which wasn't right. I know that now and I've changed.
I changed for Angie.
"Then she must be very damaged to have done that to Alaric," I whisper. It goes quiet.
I watch as a questioning look surfaces on his face. He tries to wipe it off and hold his question in.
"I can tell you have a question you want to ask me." He shakes his head no but I give him a stern look, not letting him get away with staying silent.
"Someone told me you were pregnant. Y-you don't look pregnant," my dad says all nervous.
Taken aback, I could only stare at him. He waited for me to answer, but I couldn't say anything. My dad's face dropped into a frown.
"It's okay. You don't have to tell me. Maybe I shouldn't have asked." He goes back to eating his breakfast. He looks sad and disappointed.
I don't like the look on his face, but I can't help but feel scared of what he'll think. I know he'll tell me he's okay with it and he hasn't shown any anger towards me yet, but I don't want him to think I don't trust him.
Petra told me that I'd have a load of support from everyone once I told them about the baby, and that includes my dad.
There's no one I trust more than him and we've gone through everything together. I just don't want to let him down.
"Her name is Angie," I blurt out.
"What," he asks in confusion. I guess he wasn't expecting an answer.
"At the beginning of the pregnancy, I was scared," I start off. He pauses his breakfast and listens to me speak. "Petra was the one that got me to take a pregnancy test and when it came back positive, I was scared. I was scared to tell you and everyone else and I didn't want to keep the baby. I didn't think I was going to be a good mother."
I tear up a little at the memories. My mind was the worst place to be in at that time and Petra just tried her best to be patient with me the whole time.
I couldn't stand feeling like an alien in my own body. Petra helped me a lot and I still can't believe she's gone.
"Petra convinced me that I'd have all the support I needed from everyone if I chose to keep the baby. I didn't want to tell anyone because I didn't want to keep the baby. Why tell everyone I'm pregnant if I was going to choose abortion?"
My hands were shaking and he reached out with his hand across the table to steady them. I breathe out an unsteady sigh and it helps.
"But I couldn't go through with it. The same day I came back from the clinic, Chris was leaving and I went with her. It was a good break from everything, but trouble followed us and I had to go to Berlin."
I cut off for a second and get up from my seat. I leave my dad and tell him I'll be back. I go to my room and grab a book from my bag of things from Berlin.
I walk back to the kitchen and my dad's waiting for me. I sit in a chair next to him.
"So, I met some great people in Berlin and I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl." I give him the book and he opens the cover.
The first page shows a picture of me holding Angie when she was first born. Cassandra was taking pictures of every moment we had together and she gave me this book with pictures before I left. It's the best gift I've ever gotten.
"That's your granddaughter Angie. She came out weighing eight pounds. It was a miracle she didn't rip me in half," I tell him laughing while he flips through more pictures.
"Every time your mother and I went to her check ups when she was pregnant with you, the doctors always told us you were going to be one feisty baby. You kicked like crazy and your mom said it was like a tornado in her stomach," my dad says and chuckles. I laugh along with him.
"But when you were born, you were only this tiny little baby. We couldn't believe it was this bite size baby creating big storms in the womb," he finishes off. He smiles at the pictures of Angie.
A beautiful way to start our morning considering the storm that's about to happen in a few hours.