REVISED

I swapped around this and the next arc, so that Van Rook is not aware of Doyle's circumstances until he actually encounters Doyle in chapter 23 on (old readers will know what circumstances and encounter I'm referring to). As a result, I've had to revise these two arcs and other references to them.
I will still refer to the Avalanche arc (now arc 2) in my notes when I refer to timing.

Here we go:

I don't own the Secret Saturdays. I don't own Leonidas. I do own Vadoma, Aeron, and their side of the family.

Vadoma and her family are Gypsies. Welsh Kale, in fact. That...sort of becomes relevant in other stories. The fact that she's a Gypsy is the reason for her name (look it up on 20000 dash names dot com), and also relates to certain prejudices later in this arc. The fact that she's Welsh sort of becomes relevant in Skinwalker. ("Sort of" because I'm using "Welsh" as a substitute for "Celtic," and mixing up mythologies while I'm at it.)
Unless I change my mind again about why it's relevant. Other than the Skinwalker connection, they could be from whatever clan the reader wants. But they're still Gypsies.

Alternate Universe? Depends on the reader's perspective. I try, for the most part, to limit my fanfiction to "but the author never said it didn't happen." Obviously, the author has every opportunity to write something later that specifically contradicts my fanfiction, but I try to avoid such contradictions when I can, sometimes even rewriting chapters as new information becomes available. As it is, I've had to rewrite the first couple of chapters to my Pantheon/Sierra story three times now just to figure out Doyle's role in the family--it originally took place before I'd seen Owlman, then immediately after, then....
There are some chapters, though, in the generic history in which I blatantly rewrite canon history. One such occasion is in the next arc (though I see it more as a cross between "but the author never said" and an actual rewrite). Others...remain to be seen.
And some chapters or stories will blatantly contradict canon, mostly because I'm too stubborn to give up writing them in spite of those contradictions. These include developed stories that practically depend on those (previously unknown) violations, or the one chapter in the Sierra storyline that finally decided me on which ending I wanted to use (and by extension, that particular ending...unless I change my mind again, of course), or the fact that the Sierra story might become Alternate Universe if I don't figure out how to deal with Van Rook's role in War of the Cryptids, or the Mistaken Identity (a definite Alternate Universe...or alternative timeline, at least) or Mulo storylines in their entirety, or.... Anywho.

Flashbacks and notes: most of this document started out as just author notes. I wrote up a few "flashbacks" just so that I'd know what characters were alluding to when they...ah, reminisced in the main storylines. This "history" was never intended to work as a single story. It certainly was not intended for one to assume that all of these chapters happened within any given timeline/universe...even though it's posted as such.
I have a few different and completely unrelated TSS fanfics floating around in my skull—that is, completely unrelated but for the fact that I tend to share elements among them. Consider them as alternate universes (or at least timelines) of each other. Some of these "flashbacks" may be very important to one such fanfic, but have nothing whatsoever to do with another. And so on.
These flashbacks will proceed in a rather episodic fashion, with a definite timeline—which I still manage to contradict on occasions—but not as a definite story. It'd probably be easiest to think of this document as a collection of short (sometimes very short) stories that proceed in a linear fashion, rather than "a story" in and of itself.

I might, as the chapters call for it, let readers know if a given chapter doesn't "exist" within the timeframe of a given storyline, or if the timing is changed...and might even say why.

Timing: About 26 years before the start of the show.

New Job

"I don't like it."

The man tossed his bag on the bed and turned to see his wife in the doorway. "Vadoma?"

She walked over to embrace him. "This job, I don't like it. I just...it feels wrong."

"Vadoma, they're expecting me tomorrow. I've been talking about this job for months, and you've never said a word."

"I know. I'm sorry, Leo, I've tried to keep quiet. I trust you, you know I do, but...." She buried her face in his chest and tried not to cry. "You told me you'd give up this mercenary thing. After that message, after that scare your mentor had—" Now she did start crying.

"Rationalizing, my love?" Leonidas tsked at her. "You know better. You know those feelings of yours are more trustworthy if you can't explain them away so easily."

She chuckled in spite of her grief. Then she sighed. "I don't want to lose you." Her voice was so quiet, he couldn't even call it a whisper.

"Sh, sh, I know. And I did promise. But this job is nothing like that. We'll just be acting as bodyguards, maybe not even that, for some archeology team. There won't be any danger—"

"What if a monster attacks you? Like that beast your mentor faced? He could have been killed, or his children—"

"He is a better fighter than that, more so since he was protecting his children. And he taught me." Leonidas shook his head. "There is nothing like that monster where we are going. The only difficulty I will face is being away from you for a month. And when we get back, I promise you, I will retire, and spend the rest of my life with the family." He pulled closer so that he could kiss her.

"'The family' won't like that," she whispered between kisses.

"Uh, actually, I've told them all about it, and they think it's a wonderful idea."

Vadoma pulled back. "They.... Wait, are we talking about the same family here? My family? My family…who remains convinced, that though we be married for centuries, they will have centuries in which to try to run you off the face of the earth. They think that your idea is wonderful. That family?"

Leonidas shrugged. "Well, maybe they finally realized they can't get rid of me?" His expression was innocent. Too innocent.

"Uh-huh. And I suppose the paycheck has nothing to do with it? Hmm?"

"I—well, I.... I might've mentioned that...I don't know, with the pay I was offered, the interest alone would permit us to live far more lavishly than we do now, until our grandchildren's grandchildren are all grown up. But I'm sure that it had nothing to—" He broke off at her grin. "Okay, fine, so it had everything to do with it. Pack of greedy little—Er, I mean.... Why are you looking at me that way? I said nothing. Honest!"

"Nothing honest is right," Vadoma muttered and snickered. She raised an eyebrow. "More lavishly? I didn't know there was such a thing."

Leonidas shrugged. "And that's not counting the bonus I get for bringing Aeron."

She sighed. "That's the other thing. Why Aeron? He's not even twelve. What has he to do with being a mercenary?"

"I was nine when I first became a mercenary, love."

"Your childhood was a little bit different than his, Leo." Vadoma held her fingers together, so close that they almost touched. "Only this much."

He chuckled. "Only that much, huh?" Leonidas grabbed his wife's hand and kissed it. It was a long moment before he spoke again. "The job.... This dig is funded by some philanthropist who wants to get children interested in history. Aeron is the whole reason I was offered the job."

"Plus you can sneak in some father-son bonding time, right?"

He flinched and dropped her hand. "I don't know anything about the boy's father. I will not pretend to be someone I'm not, certainly not a man I've never met. And with how close we are in age.... I've accepted that Aeron will never see me as a father." He sighed. "But I would like for him to accept me as family. Even if the rest of your family will not."

Vadoma buried her face in his chest again. She knew it embarrassed him to show his pain, especially when it was the emotional kind. She thought he was wrong to be embarrassed, and she knew she wasn't helping, but she was willing to pretend she hadn't seen what he didn't want her to see.

Leonidas put his hand under her chin and tilted her head back. "Tell me you want me to turn down the job. Tell me you don't want me to go. Tell me to stay, and I will stay."

Vadoma smiled. "I've got you trained that well, do I? Maybe next I should have you sit up and beg? Or lie down and roll over?"

"Woof."

Vadoma laughed. She closed her eyes, just enjoying the feel of his arms around her. Finally she sighed. "I don't want you to go." Leonidas nodded and turned to unpack. Vadoma laid her hand on his arm, and he looked up at her. "I don't want you to go; I want you all to myself, forever and a day. But I won't stop you."

He set the bag back down. "Vadoma?" He reached up to wipe the tears from her eyes, ignoring the tears in his own.

"If you want to go, then go. I won't stop you. If you think this job is a good idea…I trust you." She grinned. "And I promise, I won't let my family badger me into running off with a complete stranger while you're gone."

"They wouldn't dare," Leonidas whispered back. "Not while I have Aeron with me."

—

The next morning

It hurt to see her husband wear that mask again. She had never cared much for his work, even on such "tame" jobs as this one.

She knew she wasn't being fair to him; his job was hardly more dangerous than most. It took him into dangerous territory, certainly, but his training gave him an advantage that nobody but his mentor could match. And one of his first lessons was to never put himself or anybody else in danger if he couldn't handle it.

But he always left her wondering if this time would be the last she'd see him. And some days, that feeling was nearly impossible to bear.

But she was determined not to cry as she watched him leave with her son. She bade them good luck and a safe return. It was only after the door closed that she sobbed into her father's arms.

He held her that way until she cried herself out. She wiped at her tears, and laughed about her reaction; she wasn't usually this emotional.

She rubbed at her stomach in an unconscious gesture.

Her father noticed the motion. "So, sweetling, have you told him yet?"

She blinked, and then realized what she was doing. "No, daddy, not yet."

"How come?"

"I thought...well, it's just too soon to know." The man rolled his eyes. Vadoma sighed as she rubbed her stomach again. "They'll be gone for a month; I'll know for sure by then, and when he comes back...then I can surprise him."

Her father chuckled. "You and your games; you're almost as bad as he is, you know that?" He kissed her on the cheek. "If that's really what you want...."

"It is."

The thing with Vadoma's "feelings" draws on my own personal beliefs. Somehow, the actual description of those feelings, and of the attempt at rationalizing them, never quite made it into the chapter the way I wanted it (at least not this version; I'm still working on it). Especially not since the timing and the scene have been completely revised. The reason for her feeling no longer exists.
But this is what I had in mind:
I feel (no pun intended) that when we have very strong feelings about something and cannot name the source beyond "I have a feeling," those feelings should be heeded. Whereas if we can actually rationalize those feelings (provided we're not going out of our way to do so), then the feelings may not be quite as important.
For instance, if you've ever seen or read Stephen King's "You Know They've Got a Hell of a Band" (Nightmares and Dreamscapes), the woman's "this place frightens me" (not an exact quote, but I'm not trying) would be something serious. "This place frightens me, it reminds me of a scary story I read" is iffy; it could be serious if you're genre savvy, or it could be an overactive imagination. "This place frightens me, that house reminds me of the gingerbread house in 'Hansel and Gretel'" is one's imagination running away with you. Or it would have been that way had she not gone out of her way to find some explanation.
And in this chapter, it would've been that Vadoma just has a very bad feeling about this job, and decides that it's because of the message they'd received.

Should she have rationalized? What do you think?