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"Mrs. Noceda…?" Vee started with some uncertainty and timidness that she dropped a long time ago in the presence of said woman.
Camila just came inside after, Vee presumed she had said her goodbyes to her daughter. Her real daughter. Which left her with a shapeshifter in her house that she had to figure out what to do with.
She dried her eyes and looked at Vee. Vee anxiously played with her fingers and tried to appear unbothered. She must have been too obvious because the woman gave her a warm smile as she fully stepped inside and locked the backdoor behind her.
"It's alright, you can call me Camila if you want," she said. "Or you could just…" she stopped there and glanced behind her for a moment, some heaviness returning to her eyes. "You can call me however you want, cariño. Really, I don't mind."
"...Alright," Vee said because she didn't know what else to say.
She dreaded what would happen when her deception was found out. She expected to be chased away like a monster - creatures like her weren't every day in the Human Realm after all. Heck, they weren't every day in the Demon Realm either. Or at the very least be very pointedly told to leave. Then the more she got to know Camila and the longer she went without being discovered the surer she became in herself. But that didn't mean she still didn't fear being figured out. And well, here she was, thoroughly exposed in her lie and still somehow coming out on top.
More so, Camila helped rescue her from that madman and she was so nice and caring. Vee dared to hope that everything was going to be fine.
"...uh…I- uhm," she tried to string together something that resembled a sentence, but she had no luck.
"Are you alright, uhm, Vee was it?"
She nodded, bringing her hands up to her chest.
Camila stepped closer, looking her up and down. Her expression was unreadable as if it had only now begun to sink in what she had let into her house - what creature she had lived under the same roof for so long.
Maybe this is it. She was going to be told to leave and never come back. She could feel it coming.
"That was, well, more excitement than I would have expected from an afternoon, am I right?" Camila joked and Vee blinked because that wasn't what she thought she would hear.
"I don't know about you, but I need something to drink," she continued and walked over to the fridge, pulling out a carton of orange juice. "Would you like some, Vee?"
Hearing her name from her mouth felt strange. Standing in the kitchen felt strange. Being in her Basilisk form in front of her felt strange.
"I'm sorry."
The sentence falls out of her mouth as if it were by accident.
Camila stopped for a moment and then put the carton down on the kitchen counter. Then she turns to her and her expression is so sorrowful that Vee would rather look away.
"Mija, there is nothing to apologize for."
"But there is," Vee shakes her head. "I caused so much trouble for you."
"That horrible man brought trouble on himself if you ask me," Camila said frowning.
"And I lied to you! I pretended to be your daughter and lied to you for weeks," she continued as if the woman hadn't even said a word. "And worst I was going to take her place for as long as I could get away with it."
She was aware that she was ruining her chances, but once she started talking she couldn't stop. Vee could feel tears pricking her eyes.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry about all of it," she would have continued with the confessions if it wasn't for the warm palm on her cheek that effectively silenced her.
"Oh, cariño."
"I really am sorry…"
"I know," Camila said. "Let me ask you something, mija. Would you have told me? Eventually, what happened to Luz?"
Would she have? Maybe when she was older and started to see the world from a different perspective. Maybe when she lived a decade in the skin of somebody else and she couldn't take it anymore. Maybe when the guilt kept her up most nights instead of some nights. But the truth was that the Vee that she was here and now would have been alright with shutting her mouth and taking what she could take.
Because the alternative was so much worse.
"I don't know," Vee ultimately admitted. "I would like to say yes, that I would have said something, but…" she didn't need to continue. It was a bad enough admission as it was.
Camila nodded. "It's alright. I understand."
Vee frowned. How could she understand any of this? A couple minutes ago she didn't even know that there was such a thing as a Demon Realm.
"You will have to explain it more to me, but I am sure you did what you thought you had to. Am I right?"
"Yeah… it was the best I could-... yeah."
"Then I understand it well enough to forgive you, mija."
Vee rubbed away a fresh bout of tears. "Really?"
Camila smiled reassuringly. "Really."
Despite it all, she found it in herself to return the smile. "Okay."
"Now, how about that orange juice?" Camila asked. "You must be parched after such a long day. And I have some questions some questions as well. I want to know more about this Demonic Realm."
"Demon Realm," Vee corrected her.
"Of course," Camila nodded. "Demon Realm. But of course, it can wait if you are not up to it."
"No, no, I think, I can try answering some questions."
"Thank you, mija."
"Happy to help," Vee said. She hesitated to add 'Mom' like she had done so many times when she was masquerading around as Luz. She wanted to, but it might have been too soon. Maybe after a long talk, she would work up the courage to ask about it. Right now she was fine with not losing everything like she had feared.
For now, sitting here in the kitchen with Camila was enough. It was more than enough.