darker_london | Fear (Tasha, Svetlana, Peter, Rasputina)

Never had Tasha been so grateful to be the force's errand girl. Since her liberation from Delford, she had been placed on office work while her body healed enough to start training again before being returned to her beat with her partner. Part of her new boring position included delivering files between stations, and that fateful Saturday afternoon she happened to be in the London City station instead of her home station at Bishopsgate. She had heard Svetlana's name and she hadn't let her attention be diverted until Officer Robson from Bath had finished his half-insane story about his old foster sister who had killed someone with her bare hands and then escaped and avoided the authorities to the extent that she was wandering around down town with a baby.

Tasha knew the story was not half-insane. She knew Svetlana had killed Thomas, and that she had killed many more people since then; she knew the child Svetlana was pushing around in a pram was her half-sister, and she knew if anything happened to Svetlana, her father would be inconsolable. Peter Kemp was in love with Svetlana Kavenskaya. Not to mention how much Tasha adored her.

She had broken several laws racing home, and she was glad no one caught her. Flashing a badge and giving her ID number wouldn't necessarily get her out of a speeding ticket.

"DAD!" Tasha exploded into the house, winded from her mad dash from her Lotus. It hadn't been far, but she was still in bad shape. "DAD!"

Peter poked his head around the corner of the stairs and Tasha's chest warmed with affection for her father just in seeing him. "Tasha, what's wrong?" He immediately headed down the stairs towards her, his kind, brown eyes filled with concern for her well-being.

"Tasha?" Svetlana appeared behind Peter, Rasputina in her arms. She followed Peter down the stairs, though they both paused when Tasha, overwhelmed with relief in seeing them both, burst into inexplicable tears.

"Hey..." Peter took the last few steps two at a time and he pulled Tasha into his warm arms. "Tasha, what happened."

"No!" Tasha pushed Peter away gently, though he still managed to look confused and hurt. She flapped her hands around to get ahold of herself. She was hormonal and not at all mentally well, and now her world...a world she wasn't even sure was real...was looking to collapse and that was stressful. "Fuck, get it together, Tasha." She was an officer of the law, for Christ's sake! "I was at the station and I overheard something! An officer from Bath was down here for a conference." Tasha sniffed and she wiped the tears from her face as Svetlana joined Peter in front of her. "His name was Abel Robson."

Svetlana and Peter reacted in the same instant, though their responses were as different as night and day. Svetlana looked saddened and Peter understood exactly why Tasha was freaking out without another word from Tasha. "Shit!" He knew the Robson family from Bath. They had been members of his congregation when he had been a Brother at Downside Abbey. Abel had been a bright, young boy when his foster sister had killed Peter's best friend. Peter hadn't stuck around to see how Abel had turned out, but he had an inkling.

"What did Abel-brother want?" Svetlana asked, looking confused as to why Peter and Tasha looked so worried.

"He wanted to know why you were breathing free air," Tasha growled. "Sveta, he recognised you and he wants to organise a manhunt to bring you in. He's going to look everywhere."

"To...bring me in...?" Svetlana didn't understand. "In where?"

"To prison!" Tasha hissed. "He wants to put you in prison for the rest of your life." And that was a long, long time.

Peter's face was dark with worry, but Tasha could see he was already assessing the situation. "The house is under a false name," he muttered, almost to himself. "The bank accounts are the same. Passport. IDs. Car. Hmmm. What else."

"Birth certificate," Tasha said quietly. They both lifted blank faces to meet hers and Rasputina wriggled about in Svetlana's arms and let out a hoot to break the silence. "Hers," Tasha said, pointing at the baby.

"Fuck," Peter hissed.

"Fuck!" Rasputina said with glee.

"Daddy, I told you not to teach her bad words! We don't say that, Rasputina," Svetlana scolded her demon daughter, though Rapsutina was too busy chewing on her tiny polar bear to notice she was in trouble.

Peter's expression was incredulous, but he was chewing on his lip at the same time. "We'll have to change the one at the hospital."

"Quickly," Tasha hissed. "And the public records?"

"Fu-" at the dark look Svetlana shot him, Peter amended his word at the last minute. "-rd. Uhm...Stephen. I can call Stephen the ID demon. He can do his best to change the certificates... He knows people." Peter was already fishing his mobile out of his pocket. "Tasha, Abel knows me and he knows I was there. If he comes to me..."

"I know," Tasha said quietly. Peter could lead Abel right to Svetlana. "Sveta, I think you should go away."

"You go away!" Svetlana said, clearly annoyed by everyone making such a big deal about her.

"No...I mean I think you should disappear for a while. Maybe visit Miguel and Aunt Rosalia in Spain? We can look after Rasputina."

"I do like the fishies in Spain," Svetlana nodded.

Tasha looked up at her father and she felt a pang in her heart to see the expression of terror on his face as he spoke frantically into his phone. A woman he was in love with was in danger and he was facing sending her away. Peter was forever trying to save the people he loved from terrible things. Tasha wondered how he could deal with so much. She wondered how it could possibly be real.

And even as she wondered how any of it could possibly be real, she had to be thankful that she had gotten home in time to warn her family. Because real or not, that mattered. Magnus couldn't take that away.