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Trying to.

[he turns his back to her then, crouching down to peer through the door of the oven. it's easier that way. easier to continue the conversation without having to force himself not to stare. he owes her that much.]

Ric showed me how.

[and teased him the entire time. but they're good memories, and ones he doesn't plan on sharing with anybody else. so the explanation is simply shrugged off as he pulls a couple of plates out the cupboard instead. eating it fresh out the oven may not be the best idea, but even burning his mouth the last time isn't enough to put him off doing the same this time.]

[Hayley nods. She knows about Ric. She had never met him, not here and not in Mystic Falls either - he'd already died when she showed up. She does know not to bring that up. The parts of Isaac's memories and the brief conversations that had mentioned him, she knew that he'd been important here.]

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't know the first thing about baking a pie. [She can cook, but baking is different. It's something where you have to trust that you did it right, because you can't just go back and add something to it and fix it.]

It's not that hard really.

[not that he has enough experience to back that up. this is only his second time, and it's only really meant as an excuse to talk to hayley again. a distraction, really.

and one that comes to an end all too soon. it's only once the pie is out and sitting on the counter that he finally looks back over at hayley again.]

...how've you been?

[it may seem like small talk, but the curiosity is there in his tone. he wants to know. wants to be able to talk the way they used to, even if everything's changed between them]

[She takes a seat at the table, getting off of her feet for a bit.]

Better. [She pauses.] I probably didn't have it as bad as everyone else, but I'm relieved that it's all fixed now. Back home I didn't have morning sickness, but here I just felt miserable. [She hadn't told that to Isaac when he'd asked, but she knows that it's over now and he can be upset at her or just realize that at the time she didn't feel like sharing much with him.]

[it doesn't escape him that she'd kept it to herself the last time he'd asked. things between them aren't how they used to be. they don't talk openly anymore. don't share much of anything with each other. and he knows he's entirely to blame for that. he's holding her to a standard she hadn't done with him, and that isn't fair.

but knowing and acting on that knowledge are too far removed for him. it's the same problem he's been doing his best to overcome since the first moment hayley revealed the truth to him, all those jumps ago.]

What about...her?

[Hayley rests her hand on her belly, smiling with fondness as she thinks about the baby. It's taken her a bit of time to get over the the warning the witches seemed to slap on her, but now that she hasn't had to deal with any of that -- it's just better.]

She's healthy -- fond of kicking me right when I fall asleep.

[he doesn't have much experience with children, and even less with babies. or expectant mothers as the case may be here. so when his gaze drops back to her stomach again, it's with curiosity. if the baby isn't born yet, how is it meant to know when she's trying to sleep?]

She kicks you?

[isn't she meant to still be growing or something?]

[Hayley frowns, because it's probably not the right way to explain it.]

It's not -- I guess it's not kicking, but it's a movement and it feels weird. [Though, with the baby being a hybrid who knows what sort of development it makes - it had a heartbeat way too early.]

Does she...do that a lot?

[move. kick. whatever it is that hayley is able to feel. it's still awkward, uncomfortable, dealing with the fact that she's pregnant in the first place. but he knows he has to work past it. and if that means trying to focus on the fact that the child really is innocent in it all--

well, it simplifies things a little]

As often as she wants to, I guess. It's fine. [She knows that he doesn't really want to talk about the baby, that he's just being polite.]

Other than baking -- what have you been doing?

Nothing.

[well, not really nothing. but there isn't much to do on the ship in the first place. so beyond work and training with derek, he really hasn't been up to much. especially not now that--]

Scott's gone again.

[he isn't looking for sympathy. instead, it's part of an unaired explanation as to why he'd contacted her in the first place. he's getting sick of losing people here.]

[She nods, knowing exactly what it's like to have everyone leave. She's had that most of her life and here on the ship it seems to happen more often.]

Is it better for him back home, at least?

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