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copyright infringement intended
Archiving: Any DP and Mel, all others please ask first
Summary: Very dark, exploring the Vetter family legacy
Rating: strong PG-13

Something in the Blood
By: Cousin Mary (Jenkins)

        "Hey, we've all been there, Bethany.  It'll get better," Tracy promised,
patting her cousin's shoulder.

        "I just can't believe I killed him." Beth looked up at her two cousins
through watery red eyes. She shook her head, then took a swig of the
double mocha latte they'd ordered her.  It didn't seem to be helping any,
it just swirled with the stale pretzels in her stomach and threatened to
come back up. "I mean, some cops go their whole careers without ever
drawing their gun and I-"

        "You're a Vetter, Beth," Cory said, as if that explained everything.
"It was bound to happen sooner or later."

        "Cory..." Tracy shook her head, "She doesn't need to hear that now."

        "Hear what?"  Beth asked, pushing a blonde curl out of her eyes and
tucking it behind her ear.  She looked to Tracy for an explanation,
hiccuping back the new wave of tears that threatened.

        "Cory's theory."  She rolled her eyes.

        "Theory," Cory tossed his head and laughed, the club's lights glinting
off his strawberry blonde hair. "Even you have to admit Button, sometimes
it's just fate."

        "Fate?"  Beth Vetter snorted, "What you been smokin' Cory?  There's no
such thing as fate.  So what?  We all ended up cops.  That doesn't mean
anything."

        "Doesn't mean anything besides we're born and bred to be cops, you
mean." Cory pointed out.  "Look, my dad's one, Uncle Sonny, Uncle
Richard, Aunt Louise..."

        "And Granddad, his brother..." Tracy ticked a few more off.  Of course
Bethany already knew they came from a long line of cops, they were the
fourth generation of Officer Vetters... and even before that, they'd been
town's guards and soldiers.  "Some would say it's in our blood."

        "And it goes beyond that," Cory pulled his chair closer to the small
table, mindful of the others in the crowded club.  "Sometimes I think
even if you spent your career behind a desk you'd still end up killing
someone."

        "Me?"  Bethany's blue eyes went wide and she looked between Tracy and
Cory with a somewhat panicked expression.  "I didn't want to-"

        "No, no, Bethy.  He doesn't mean you, he means... us." Tracy shot Cory a
dirty look, "It's just some stupid fairy tale the old men like to toss
around.  It doesn't mean anything."

        "Don't kid yourself Tracy, we aren't any different then them."  Cory
sighed, taking a gulp of his rapidly cooling espresso. "You think because
we're drinking coffee at a goth club we're any different then our fathers
sucking off brewskis down at O'Malley's?  In forty years it'll be our
grandkids at an oxygen bar in Resida... the times change, the family
doesn't."

        "So what you're saying is that we're all destined to kill people?"  Beth
laughed humourlessly, "That's a bunch of crap Cory."

        "Look, all I'm saying is that we've all done it," Cory tilted his glass
at her, "That's why we're here tonight after all.  Because you did."

        "Hey," Tracy whacked his arm.  "Look Bethy, it isn't..." Tracy grimaced
and started again.  "It's not like it wasn't self defence!  You did what
you had to do.  Just like any cop would."

        "Yeah, I had too."  Bethany nodded.  "It was kill or be killed, blind
alley.  I had no choice."

        "Yeah," Tracy agreed, then, her own thoughts taking a dark turn, she
mused. "Of course, now you've got to ask yourself -why- you went into
that alley.  What outcome were you expecting?"

        "They used to call it 'the Baptism.'" Cory said suddenly, almost like he
hadn't been paying attention to their conversation but was just bringing
it up for the hell of it.  Tracing a finger through some spilled coffee,
he studied the stain intently.  "The first time you killed someone in the
line of duty."

        "You weren't a real Vetter until you've-," Beth swallowed hard, she knew
the story all too well.  They didn't talk about it like they had in the
old days, and chances are this generation wouldn't bring it up ever
again, but somehow they all still knew.  "Baptism."

        "It gets easier." Tracy mumbled, well aware that she had the highest
body count, with 7, of any Vetter in the last 50 years.  And she'd only
been on the force 6 years.  "The first time, it's all you can think of...
but then-"

        "Then the faces start to blur." Cory finished for her in a sigh, looking
at his empty cup and motioning for a refill.

        "Yeah, maybe, but-" Beth's face crumbled and she rubbed at her stinging
eyes.  "Maybe we're just killers looking for a way... that's why we
become cops, so we can."

        "Don't be ridiculous Bethy," Cory's laugh was a bit strained.  He
exchanged a look with Tracy, that wasn't a question either of them
particularly wanted to face tonight... if ever.

        "We're cops, and we're just very good at it."  Tracy stated
matter-of-factly.  "You're a good cop Beth, you've got to believe that."

        "And so we go on, just like our freakin' forefathers, just like our
children will." Beth slumped in her chair, her destiny crashing down on
her, "Forever and ever, until the end of time."

        "True immortality," Tracy mumbled wryly under her breath.

        Cory glanced at his watch, "Whoa, nearly 10.  I gotta go, Anne's going
to kill me as it is!"

        "Yeah, I should get goin' too.  Thanks you guys," Beth offered a small
smile, already the pain was beginning to lessen.  She'd get through this.
 "I really needed to talk this out."

        "Hey kiddo, that's what we're here for," Tracy smiled, then waved her
hand as they started to reach for their wallets. "Don't worry about it.
I'll get it."

        "Never look a gift horse in the mouth, that's what I always say," Cory
grinned, jumping to his feet. He gave his cousins a smile, though he
loved his wife, these two were the only ones who truly understood him.
They were family, they were Vetters.  "Same place next week?  Or should
we go back to O'Malleys as usual?"

        "O'Malleys," Beth stood and gathered her things, "I don't even get why
you picked this place Trace, it's sooo... not you."

        Tracy smiled and watched her cousins leave with a wave.  Once they were
gone, she stood and walked to the bar to pay the tab.  Lacroix and all
the other Raven regulars watched her with guarded expressions.  They'd
heard every word.

        Tracy gave them a sad smile, and when Vachon met her gaze she shrugged
slightly.  She paid the bill, then left.

        Lacroix drew a long breath, then gave his son a thoughtful look.  "I
knew there had to be a reason you liked her so much."

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