Chance, Phone Call with Sofia

[Olivia White]

Olivia sat and stared at her cell phone for a few minutes, trying to prepare herself. She needed to call Sofia. Even if things hadn't gone so well the last time she saw her, she wasn't giving up on their relationship. Sofia meant way too much to her for her to just let go. Even if it seemed like that was exactly what Sofia had done. And of all things, it was over a guy. Well...not just any guy...the man that she loved. Why couldn't Sofia just accept that she loved Cain and that he was good to her and treated her like a princess? All she saw was the negative!

Picking up her phone, Olivia found Sofia on her contact list and pressed send, taking a deep breath as she held it to her ear and waited for Sofia to pick up. Or maybe she'd ignore the call. Who really knew what was going to happen?

[Sofia Knight]

Sofia was in the lab at work pouring over her files and documentation when her cell phone started to buzz on the other side of the room. She successfully ignored it for a couple moments, busy staring long and hard at the figures in front of her. Sofia had to make this work. She had to work these figures to be more favorable, to look better tested... She couldn't get fired but she'd promised Daniel to present this research to the board. Her presentation was just two evenings from now... but Sofia just couldn't make it work. And in the background, the phone kept ringing and ringing...

"Bloody --" Sofia's curses tapered off and she pushed herself away from the lab table, hurrying across the floor in her heels to her lab coat where it hung near the door. Sofia's hand dove into the pocket and she slid her thumb across the phone's screen to pick up the call without even looking at the caller. Sofia was already hurrying back to her computer, hardly paying attention to the phone at her ear.

"Yes, who is it?"

[Olivia White]

By the time the 5th ring came around, Olivia was almost sure that her call was being ignored. Should she leave a voicemail? Or just assume that Sofia will see her missed call? She began devising a voicemail in her head, only to be interrupted by Sofia's voice on the other end.

She was silent for a moment, her breath getting caught in her throat. "Sofia? It's...uh...it's Olivia. Do you have time to talk?"

[Sofia Knight]

A remission rate of 0%. No one had a remission rate of 0% in the real world but that was because Sofia only had one subject...! It was scientific social suicide. It couldn't be presented this way. Not with one tested subject. But before the plumber or the electrician or the Headmistress on the other end of the phone could ask Sofia something meaningless, Olivia's voice broke through the possibilities.

"Sofia?"

She dropped the phone onto the table. It clattered against the metal and Sofia cursed, fumbling to drop her papers and pick it up again in time to hear,

"--you have time to talk?"

"Yes," Sofia breathed. She might have been royally upset with Olivia for sticking with that Cain, yes. She'd never told Olivia why she hated him so much but, then again, she never saw a reason for it. Sofia just blocked Olivia out. But she was calling her now, Olivia, and much as Sofia was angry with her she couldn't hang up on her. She stared out the lab window with wide eyes, completely perplexed. "Yes, I'm not busy." That was a lie. "What's wrong?" Cain hurt her. He left her. Dumped her on the side of the road. She was pregnant. Anything. "What happened?"

[Olivia White]

Olivia was kind of glad Cain was at the office right now. It made things a little less awkward for her. She had no idea how this conversation was going to go. Perhaps face-to-face Olivia could be walked all over and pushed around, but it was a whole different story on the phone. And if she had something to say to Sofia this time, she wasn't going to hold back. Not if, by some slim chance, she'd be able to fix her friendship.

She was surprised that Sofia even picked up the phone. But apparently Sofia was just as surprised. She could hear the phone bouncing around and Sofia cursing before she seemed to get herself together. And what was that? Was that a hint of concern in Sofia's voice as she asked what was wrong?

"Nothing...I just," she sighed, trying to reword her thoughts. "I didn't like how we left things off the last time I saw you. And you mean so much to me. And I really want to try to fix things between us. But..." she trailed off, "I need you to understand that I love Cain. Just like you love Gideon."

[Sofia Knight]

Sofia almost hoped he'd done something. That bastard. She could go pick Olivia up, hold her in her arms, everything could be absolved... Cain was a terrible man. Maybe Sofia shouldn't detest him as vehemently as she did but... she did. It would be better for her if he showed his true colors and she and Olivia could start over. Be friends again. No, they were sisters before... Be sisters again. It would be better.

"Nothing... I just," Sofia sighed and paced closer to the window. What was it then? "I didn't like how we left things off the last time I saw you. And you mean so much to me. And I really want to try to fix things between us. But..."

Sofia swallowed a knot in her throat and stared into the grounds floors below where comfortable benches and smooth walking paths welcomed hospital patients who needed air in the warmer months. She needed some air herself. And wanted Olivia back into her life... But that man stood between them. It helped that Olivia said she meant a lot to her even still. Sofia had always wanted a little sister to take care of and for a time Olivia had been that for her. But everything fell apart...

"I need you to understand that I love Cain. Just like you love Gideon."

"He's a monster," Sofia suggested in a soft, hardly determined voice. But she meant it. "He's put me through terrible things. He's never apologized. Gideon... is sorry for what he did to you." They were hardly on the same scale... But in Sofia's mind, it was a point. "Cain is shameless. He's a businessman who thrives on death... How can I trust him with you?"

[Olivia White]

This conversation was already going better than she imagined. Hell...there was at least a conversation to be had! She told Sofia how she wanted to fix things between them, because the woman did mean a lot to her. However, Sofia needed to realize that Cain was a part of her life and that she loved him just as much as Sofia loved Gideon.

She had spent the past few minutes pacing back and forth in the living room, coming to a stop when Sofia called Cain a monster. Not this again. She gave Sofia the chance to explain that Cain had put her through terrible things and never apologized, adding that Gideon was sorry for what he did to her. Then she went on about how Cain was shameless and asked how she could trust Cain with her when he was in a business centered around death.

Letting out another sigh, she sat on the back of the leather couch and flopped over it so that her feet were up over the back, and her head was hanging off the cushion. "Cain's put you through terrible things? Now...I don't know what exactly that means, but I have a feeling it's not half as bad as being attacked in the woods and nearly killed. And is Gideon truly sorry? Or is he just sorry because you want him to be?"

She could feel herself starting to tear up, but fought hard to push them away. She needed to be strong for once, Sofia couldn't sense her emotions right now. "I know you can trust Cain with me because he's already killed someone to protect me once. And he'll do it again. I wish you could see how good he treats me. How different he is when he's with me. I'm happy with him. I want to spend the rest of my life with him."

[Sofia Knight]

"Now... I don't know what exactly that means, but I have a feeling it's not half as bad as being attacked in the woods and nearly killed."

Sofia made a sound of frustration but she didn't deny it. Damn it... Yes, being nearly killed was worse, of course, than being threatened. It was worse than inducing panic attacks or threatening the livelihood of someone else. It was worse... But Sofia held a great deal against Cain because he couldn't keep his fucking mouth shut. But Gideon, like Olivia said, had tried to kill her. And would have succeeded... It still turned Sofia's stomach.

"And is Gideon truly sorry? Or is he just sorry because you want him to be?"

Sofia didn't answer that either. She went silent. Gideon wanted to make her happy so he said he was sorry... But Gideon never regretted a kill. No matter who it was. If Olivia hadn't been her best friend at the time would he have been sorry? Probably - definitely - not.

On the other end, Olivia pushed on through Sofia's silence and she sounded emotional. Sofia listened, staring at the snowy ground down below, and digested what she had to say. Cain killed someone to protect her... who? Why? It wasn't as comforting as it was frightening in ways... He killed someone... But Sofia did know he killed, he made a living from it, so why be shocked! He treated her well, Olivia said. But the kicker was, "I want to spend the rest of my life with him."

"But you're a girl!" Sofia interjected, sounding briefly hysterical. Her voice rose at once. "You're only a girl! You're young and alive! You have potential to have a career and a family... Are you going to throw that all away for him? Is he going to love you when you have grey hair and a heart condition, Olivia?"

[Olivia White]

Gideon was probably more similar to Cain than either of them knew or would like to admit. She knew Gideon was only sorry for what he did because Sofia wanted him to be...just like Cain would only be sorry for something because she wanted him to be. But that didn't matter. Sofia needed to get over her issue with Cain because whatever it was he did to her wasn't nearly as bad as what Gideon did to her. And she would throw that in the woman's face as much as she needed to until she got her point across.

She didn't bother waiting for Sofia to respond to her little tirade, she had already moved past that to try to explain just why she was so safe with Cain. He'd killed Dorian to save her. And she knew he wanted to find that other vampire that bit her too. She was safest with him and she loved him and wanted to spend her life with him. Something she knew Sofia would protest. And she did.

Called her a girl, talked about her future and how she'd throw it all away with Cain. Then she asked if Cain would still love her when she was old. That was something that had crossed her mind hundreds of times. She couldn't stand the thought of being old with Cain still looking 21. It was the one thing she never wanted to face or even consider. Though there was also a part of her, that considered that one day Cain might turn her. She didn't know if she wanted to be a vampire. But she did know that forever with Cain wasn't a bad thought. Not when you loved someone like she did.

She sniffed a bit, trying not to cry, though her voice cracked when she started to speak, her voice a bit raised. "I'm not a teenager anymore Sofia! Remember the 3 years that's passed since we've met? I've grown up over them. I'm not young and naive anymore! I know what I want. And I want to be with Cain. You don't think I've thought about those things already? I have...but in the end, none of it is enough to make me stop loving him as much as I do."

[Sofia Knight]

Sofia just couldn't stand for Olivia throwing everything away for Cain! She was a good girl - a good, living girl who had come here all alone from the States without a direction at all it had seemed. What Sofia knew, even then, however, was that Olivia wasn't a vampire. She wasn't a fangbanger. Or so she thought... Sofia thought she was wholesome and sweet. A perfect Virgin Mary but every year things changed and now Olivia was telling her she wanted to be with Cain... forever. Sofia lost her head and screamed. Could you blame her?

"I'm not a teenager anymore, Sofia!"

Sofia stomped a foot like a child and paced angrily from the window, glowering to herself. No, but she damn well wished Olivia still was! She went on. She'd grown up and wasn't "young" and "naive" anymore. Really! Sofia didn't believe a goddamn word of it... She was so young. She wanted to be with Cain, a murderer, and that was that. Sofia stopped at a lab bench and bent over it, forehead to the cold metal with a huff out of her lungs. Olivia said she'd thought about it. Loved him so much even despite the problems... Why was she so goddamn stubborn?

"This is a terrible idea. You're so fucking beautiful and good. You could have the most beautiful children. Raise them right..."

Her voice was muffled with her forehead pressed to the metal the way it was and Sofia must have been quite a sight this way but she didn't care. She was all alone and took a breather before going on. She sounded calmer... But no less stubborn. More like she had a firm grasp on her anger now.

"Now that I have children and a husband and a job... There are things I wish I could do, Olivia, that I can't because I lost it all to be dead." Sofia didn't admit this even to Gideon. Who else had she told? Maybe Ginny... But probably no one... "You're still alive. Fresh and beautiful. If you waste these years on him... Or, spend them with him, whatever... You're going to miss all that. And there's no reason you should. Is he worth it?"