What happened before. What happened after.

Who: Nic, her mother
Where: Haverstrom household
When: early morning, pre-Nate's phonecall

"... honestly don't know what you were thinking, Nicole!" She hadn't heard all of it, because most of what had been said to her since she and her mom had both gotten home were variations on that one thought. It was finally light out, and the Haverstrom house was still aside from the near-yelling in the living room. Nic sat on the floor near the sofa, watching her mom seated on the sofa itself as she wearily pulled knots from her hair. "Mom, I already said--" she started, biting her tongue at the look she got for even that much.

"This isn't about being sorry, Nic!" her mother chided harshly, sitting forward. "I told you about those animals, didn't I? I told you to be careful! Why would you go out if you knew things were getting bad? Did you... did you just not care?" The words stung, and they made Nic flinch. Sometimes she knew her mom worried about how much attachment existed between the two of them, and whether Nic would really be around much when she turned eighteen. She always wanted to dispel those doubts, but she never knew quite how, what words to use.

"No, I was just..." she struggled, swallowing a little and leaning over to rest her head on her mom's knee, "I was safe, mom. I was out with Caleb, he wouldn't let anything happen to me. As soon as we even heard one of those things, he got me in the car and we were gone." Which was a small lie, but it was close to the truth. Caleb had shoved her to safety. "Caleb?" her mom echoed thoughtfully, smiling a little as she reached out to smooth Nic's hair. "I know you trust this boy, hon. I think you like him, but we're not going to argue about that right now. But I need you to understand, okay?"

She swallowed hard, the color blanching from her face as she worked out what to say that would spare her daughter the gruesome details. "Those... things, whatever they were. They tore apart whole groups of people, they killed orderlies big enough to play professional football. I don't... I don't know how much good your friend would've been if there had been real trouble." Nic flinched a little, wanting to argue that but knowing better. Outing Caleb as something special? Bad idea, and probably a fast way to not getting to see him. "Monsters," Nic murmured in clarification, "They were monsters, mom. Werewolves."

She felt her mother twitch a little, and Nic turned her head to look up with wide, earnest eyes. "I know it sounds... crazy? But they were." And she could see the denial in her mother's eyes, begging to be channeled. "No, Nicole," she protested down at her daughter with a light, uncertain shake of her head. "They weren't werewolves." But neither of them heard much fervor behind that statement, and Emily was dreading being called on it. "What happened after they died, mom? Who killed them?" Nic asked probingly, her tone gentle but insistent.

Her mother flinched again, her expression plain with relived scenes of carnage as she shook her head. "I don't know," she confessed, "My floor was safe. One minute, we were fine. The next? There was... screaming, gunshots, howls, more shooting. It was so fast, we must've had police officers in the building already. And when we got called down to help out the survivors... everyone was saying they were huge? Like... wolves or bears. But there wasn't anything like that on the floor. Just people." Some of them had been clawed or chewed apart, reduced to nothing but scattered limbs and entrails. More disturbing though were the few bodies she'd seen with thin-stretched patient identification bracelets, killed by a gunshot, a stab wound, a surgically cut throat... What happened after they died? What happened before?

"Mom," Nic murmured, scared by the shifting in her eyes, "It's okay. It's over." Until next month. She wondered if Caleb was right, and how many survivors they'd have to worry about. It just meant that Nic was on a time line to try and be ready. The clock was ticking, so she had to start making her thoughts into a reality. "I was thinking, though? I know I'm grounded, you don't have to say so... just tell me how long. But I want to..." she trailed, frowning in concern, "If something weird happens again? I want to be able to defend myself. And there's a kickboxing place in town, I could do it a few days a week?"

Her mom laughed a little in surprise, deciding it was a fair request, though only a teenager could ask for money in response to something like this. "You'd want to do that and work for that mechanic?" her mom asked, making it clear that she wasn't going to let Nic drop the job she'd talked about, "I think I'd feel better knowing where you were for a while after school, so okay. But I have conditions." Nic couldn't help grinning tiredly, arms reaching to encircle her mother's legs for an awkward hug. "Of course you do," she murmured.

Emily laughed faintly, shaking her head as she smoothed Nic's hair. "You call me at work or here every day, whether you're going to class or coming home. I want to know where you are, alright? I worry, Nicole. I'm not going to lose you..." She sniffled with those words, and Nic felt her own eyes watering in kind as she nodded. "I can do that, mom," she answered, sighing. It was good news, yelling aside. "And?" Emily went on, "I want to meet this Caleb. I'll do my best not to scare him off, but I think he deserves a 'thank you'." Plus she wanted to approve of whoever it was that her daughter was spending so much time with.

"Mom!" Nic protested, her head snapping up, "Seriously? Do you have to? I mean, he's..." Gay. Spoken for. Not interested in her. Nic couldn't bring herself to say any of the lies, if only because it'd mean she might start believing them. And surprisingly, she didn't want to. For once, Nic liked the truth. "He's what?" Emily asked, smiling curiously. "He's... kinda antisocial?" Nic finally answered, shrugging a little, "I think that's why we get along. So if you promise to be nice? I'll ask him to come by sometime."

That was enough for Emily, and she rose with a stifled yawn and a smile. "One week," she said randomly as she stood, "No going out that I don't approve of. School, work, signing up for that class. If people want to come over here, only when I'm home." It was all worded plainly, and with no room for arguing, but Emily was smiling as she said it. "I'm going to go shower and try to sleep, okay? I have today off, so whenever we both feel like it, let's go look into this karate you mentioned."

"Kickboxing," Nic corrected, watching her mother go, "Karate's for Ralph Macchio, mom." And there was more to work on later, of course; getting her mom to see the security tapes, finding out who might be the new infected from the hospital attacks, trying to find Caleb a way out of coming over. But the worst of it felt like it was over, to Nic. now she just needed to feel like she could sleep, which didn't seem to be in the near future. Nic rose once her mom was out of the room, heading to the kitchen. Coffee was vital, and maybe some breakfast. Plus a good, bloody movie. Maybe something fake could help her forget how very real things had gotten.