Hi! Crystalmoon39 here!

The author of the Detentionaire fic with my OC Nora Prowler!

Nora: "Sup!"

I felt like doing a one-shot where Nora finds something from her familiy's past. I got the idea after listening to the song 'Pretending' from the Glee Cast (it was recommended and I liked it). This is in Nora's POV and she's back in her own house.

It's been a few days since our escape from Coral Grove now. Lee is safe with his mother and father, and I don't know what the situation with Serpent is at the moment. I'm home alone... again. Dad hasn't shown his face much around here lately. I've got questions for him, and he probably knows about them. If he's really been involved then he might know where I've been all this time.

But I have other issues on my mind now that there's some time to rest. While I was in prison I crossed paths with my mom's grandfather. He knew as much about my existence as I did about his up to a few weeks prior to the day he told me everything. That my great-grandmother Elena Floros hid herself and their child from him, and found an exclusive way to hide our marks from being found by anyone, including him. With Dad gone, and not showing any hints of making an appearance, there's just one other place to look for answers.

We have a basement where Dad usually works on new system designs alone. It's password locked, but I know how to get in. "H.E. L.E.N.A." I type in my mother's name. I enter and pass all the equipment to look in one corner of the basement. Dad still kept a few old boxes that Mom had around the house. He said he likes feeling the security of a home when creating a protective space. Did you know who you were making those spaces for, Dad? There are two boxes. One is filled with Mom's old schools stuff, the other with memorabilia she got when she married Dad. I take the latter box upstairs with me to my room.

Sitting on my bed, I only hesitate a second before going to work. I open the box and at first just see old pictures. There are names and small messages written on the back of some of them. Nothing is organized, but one object is buried at the very bottom amid all the delicate old pictures. A small, rectangular, wooden box. I lift it up and feel it's smooth and hard texture, yet I hold it with all the delicateness of glass. "I think I've seen this before."

And I have! Mom showed this to me years ago! The box is made of cedar, with small flora designs painted and carved into it. She said it was her hope chest. A family heirloom passed down to each girl when she grows up and leaves the house. I don't remember her saying anything about its previous owners, just that I couldn't see inside and ruin the surprise until I was old enough. I try opening it now. The lid is stuck, it need a key. I dig around in the box until I find one. It's old and looks like it's made of iron. It fits!

I unlock the hope chest. There are odd trinkets and papers inside, including more old pictures. "What am I even looking for?" There's nothing about Elena in here! There are photos of Mom when she was a kid, when she was dating Dad, of her with her mother; there's nothing on marks or Pyramids! Then something catches my eye. While all the other papers are loose and easy to view, there's one envelope. It' sealed, and it looks like it's been that way for a long time. I pick it up, handling it even more gently than I did the box.

"Should I…?" It might have what I'm looking for. I try not to ruin it, and open the envelope. There's a letter inside and it's addressed… to Great-Grampa Finnwich! "Elena?" With no more hesitation, I read the letter. Finding I almost can hear a woman's gentle voice narrating it. Her voice coming out smooth, slow and loving.

My Dearest Maxwell,

It has been so long since we have seen each other face to face. But in my heart I guess I still know that we will be apart for much longer still. Even if I was close to you, we would still be worlds apart just the same. I know that because I now know the full implications of being part of a family with you. I do not regret our relationship, only that I was not fully informed beforehand to discuss this with you.

An old friend yours came to me a few weeks before from Korea, he told me about His Eminence. Mr. Ping explained to me what his true intentions are and the danger it presents to those born of your bloodline. He somehow knew of my child before even I did. I couldn't tell my family. These things would not go over well with my parents, and that tiny life needed all the protection I could offer. But I did not have the option of leaving this country like Mr. Ping did. I needed to find another way of hiding who my child is. So I left. It was that simple. A different name, I sold my old belongings for new ones and left. I so wanted to stay, to tell you about this child, but there was more at stake than just what I wanted.

In case you've ever wonder, I named him Johnathan. It is strong, somewhat common, but still refined enough for me. He's good son, he grew up without a father but he's as smart and strong as any of the other boys. He has asked about you. I'm afraid I had to tell him, like I've told my new friends, that you have died. They are kind enough not to ask for any names, thinking that I am a widow who moved here to escape heartache. In a way they are right, but I'm still able to give Johnathan the name Floros because of it. He's recently taken an interest in a young lady named Nicole. A very sweet girl, if a little timid. I do love her very much.

I write this letter knowing it will never reach you. But Maxwell, I cannot help wondering. Will we never see each other again in this lifetime? Will I ever be able to say to your son that his father is man whom I had to leave to avoid danger to him? I have left you as oblivious as I have left him, it's the only way for this family to live in peace. No, not peace. That is not the word. My heart has been heavy and in pain all these years because of this secret. But what else can I do? His very life must be kept a secret to keep him safe. I pretend that you are dead, but how can I when I am so often reminded of the company that you have sold your soul to?

The page ends there, but there's another behind it.

Is there a happy ending in this story? Will I ever be able to tell you or our son how I've been feeling all these years? To tear down the walls we've both built and be reunited again? Or will this pretending continue for the rest of our lives? I have resolved myself to always remain strong, Maxwell. So please understand that I will not come to see you. Not without a sign that you remember me and are finally free of the creature that has taken the place of your boyhood mentor. I dream of the day when we can all be together again, but I know that the way I have left will have looked as a betrayal of your trust.

And perhaps I am to blame for whatever grief this has caused you. The moment he was coming however, Johnathan became my priority. His resemblance to you is mostly in personality. Which greatly cheers me up in these lonely days. Had I fallen in love with a different man, perhaps he would have a father to share the days and dreams he has with him. I am managing, Maxwell, in case you wonder. I work, I socialize, and I have mastered the art of deception. You can tell Elizabeth that I can have equal conversations with her now! Oh, and I have heard about Arthur… He was a kind man, a little odd, but not someone I can make myself easily hate.

We have all kept our secrets, Maxwell. And for me it's been incredibly tiring. I don't think I could have stayed with you: someone who has so many that the identity of his own family would make them a target to even his own allies. I do love you, Maxwell. You have given me a wonderful son who makes me happy and very proud of him. I know by now you will have moved on with your life, but if I could be bold, I would like to know if you've thought of me.

Neither of us are in a position to see or contact each other, even if you happen to know where I am. I know you forget the small things sometimes, and I was always happy to remind you of them. That is my job, you know! But I would hope that our time together wasn't just a detail to you. The true shame of my situation is that I will never know if you are free. Mr. Ping told me so many things that day, and I can tell that he was not lying to me. You are an intelligent man, but how am I supposed to know when you realize you aren't doing this for the benefit of the world?

I live my life wondering about the things we cannot and may never do. But Maxwell, I also live for the moments where I smile, and where Johnathan smiles, and I will for Nicole if she becomes permanent. I question whether fate has dealt me a fair hand, but I'll learn the game as I go along. This letter will never reach you. But, in some way, I hope that my love does.

Until our time to meet comes.

Your dearest,

Elena Floros

Tears stung and fell from my eyes. I had not been ready for that. Not only the emotions that were expressed in this letter, but the familiarity of the words. Like I could just barely hear the sound of her voice in my head while I was reading it. I know that's impossible, Elena died long before I was born. Before Mom was probably born. Was she?

"So," I sniffed. "Now I've met Elena." My great-grandmother, who left Finnwich and found a way to hide my family from the evil Council and His Eminence. Finnwich always suspected that her disappearance had something to do with Ping, just not in the way he might have thought. He warned her, and she thankfully believed him. Grandpa had thought she had actually run off with Ping, but really he had warned her and Elena had left on her own.

"And she still loved him." She was gutsy to just leave everything in order to protect her baby. And still tougher to go her whole life without letting her son know who his father was to keep her family safe. I can see from the pictures that she never left Canada, that could only have made the situation harder for her. That could also be why my mark is blended in with my skin. Anyone who looked at her son's arm wouldn't see anything. I fold up the letter and put it back in the envelope. But I just can't put it back in the box.

Elena went around the rest of her life with this secret. The only way to get it off her conscious was to write it out in a letter that she would never send and never be read. And maybe to later explain to her son or any future generation where this all started. I look through the hope chest and find pictures of her, and what must be my grandfather, her son. I read the back, seeing that Nicole was also the name of my grandmother. "Grandma…" I bet if I looked through here I would find out how my mark is hidden, so the hope chest won't be going back in the cardboard box. Not yet. Neither will the letter.

I put everything else back down in the basement and then lock it again. "I found what I was looking for." I tell myself. "I have a good reason to find my great-grandfather again. Elena never got to tell him her side of the story." But her love may have reached him. Through me. The two of them had something together, and eventually it led to me. I saw from my time with him that Finnwich would have liked to hear from her one last time. He wanted to see her again too. Elena died before the end of her story. Where she tells him that she loves him and their separation had meant something, there was going to be the happy ending she wished for.

For that same means I have to work things out with both Finnwich and my own Dad. Elena's letter says how hard she would like to have fought to keep her family together, I can't sit back while my own trial is happening around me. She did her best then, now I have to do my best.

I'll keep the letter with me as a reminder of my new mission. Find Grampa and make sure he reads it. Elena's letter holds Elena's secret. "Let's just face it." I say looking at a picture of me and my dad. "All secrets have to be realized sooner or later."

A/N: Too cheesy? Maybe try looking at this like Nora's New Year's resolution.

I just felt like doing it. I brought up Elena and I wanted to give a little more story on her.

Nora's past is part of who she is. Should I do more one-shots? Or my own season if one's not coming?

Review please, with your remarks!