A/N: This series has gotten such an overwhelming response and I'm so thankful for all of you. It's amazing writing for this fandom. I've gotten so much encouragement and it's helped me write so much more and so quickly. All of you are amazing. This fic offers some insight to Vanya and Diego's feelings and is based before I hate u, I love u and Gone but after Hands On You. The song is All or Nothing by O-town. A bit old school but a favorite song of mine. Enjoy.

I know when he's been on your mind, that distant look is in your eyes, I thought with time you'd realize, it's over, over,

It's not the way I choose to live, and something, some where's got to give, as sharing this relationship gets older, older

You know I'd fight for you, but how I can fight someone who isn't even there,

I've had the rest of you, now I want the best of you, I don't care if that's not fair,

JPOV

They've been dating for a while now and John had thought it was going well. Three months in and they're still getting to know each other but he's been enjoying it. Vanya is such a sweet and beautiful woman. He'd met her at the bookstore and he'd been nervous to ask her out. It was a book signing, after all, for her book. Her autobiography. She'd been so shy and quiet unless she was reading an excerpt. He'd liked seeing the blush on her cheeks as he'd flirted with her.

Last Friday, they'd been on a date, just one of many, and he'd felt her hand tighten in his, her arm tensing. He'd noticed the man and woman walking toward them. The woman was pretty with naturally tan skin and dark hair and eyes. The man was similar, though his skin was a bit darker, maybe a shade or two. The woman was fairly tall for a woman and dressed in a knee length cocktail dress. The dress was dark red and feminine with a thin lace overlay. Her hair was half up, the bottom half curling around her bare shoulders. Her lips matched her dress.

John hadn't been able to keep himself from comparing her outfit to Vanya's. Fitted black slacks, a royal blue shirt that was buttoned all the way to her throat, and a blue vest that was dark enough to be nearly black. Her shirt was tucked in under the vest and the sleeves were rolled up to expose her forearms. Her dark hair is short, cut much like a boy's but kind of shaggy and that night she'd styled it a little, gave it a punk vibe that made her suit seem edgy. Her only concession to femininity was her make-up, which she rarely wears unless they're on a date that's dressier. She wore dark liner and shadow on her eyes and light reddish lipstick that was almost the same color as her natural lips.

The guy that was with the woman was dressed up, too, but there was something about him. Something familiar and dangerous. Maybe it was the scar on his eyebrow and the one on the side of his head. Maybe it was the glare on his face, his narrowed eyes or the way he barely looked at John but stared hard at Vanya who wouldn't look at him for more than a few seconds at a time.

The man was wearing black slacks, a black shirt, a black tie, and a black brocade vest with leather trim on the lapels and little silver skulls for buttons. John could see at least three knives on the man and he'd had to wonder how many more weren't visible. Because then, he'd remembered who that man was. Diego Hargreeves, the Kraken.

Then, he'd also understood why he'd glared at Vanya and why Vanya wouldn't look back. Or, he'd thought he had, at the time.

Slowly, over days, he'd started to piece things together. He'd read 'Extra Ordinary', he knew that none of the Umbrella Academy were related by blood and they didn't pretend to be. They weren't actual siblings and the Academy had been more like a boarding school for special children. And Vanya wasn't special like them so she'd been cast to the side. Allowed to live there but not allowed to participate.

Vanya had told him from the beginning that she wasn't sure what he expected from their relationship and from her and she didn't know if she could give it. She'd had one serious relationship and when it had ended, she'd been devastated and unwilling to try again. She didn't want to love that deeply again, didn't think that she could.

John had respected that, or tried to. They'd taken things slow and kept it mostly casual but he'd found himself seriously falling for her. He wanted more and he was sure that she could give it if she just tried.

Now, though, after piecing things together, after the looks shared that night and the information he'd previously been given, he thinks that maybe Diego Hargreeves is mad about more than that book being published. Vanya's avoidance of everything Hargreeves didn't cloud the pain and longing in her eyes as the other woman, Eudora, had wrapped an arm around Diego's waist and gushed about how nice it was to finally meet Vanya. Diego's arm had automatically wrapped around the woman's shoulders and Vanya's arms had wrapped around herself.

She'd made polite small talk for a few minutes before telling them that she really had to be on her way. John had made his apologies and hurried after her.

Sitting in the café now, he watches her as she stares out the window, her gaze seeing things that aren't there, her eyes clouded with memories. And he knows, he just knows, that she's thinking about Diego. He doesn't know how he knows, it's just something in her expression, the sadness and regret in her eyes.

And he's hoping that with enough time, enough distance, she can relegate those thoughts and memories back to the back of her mind instead of constantly distracting her as they are now.

2x7