Summary: Love is a difficult thing to stay faithful to when faced with a beautiful woman, this is a lesson Vanya learns when Eudora starts working with Diego.
Warning: Story contains pseudo-incest, naughty language, and infidelity.
A/N: I love Dolly Parton's song "Jolene" so I decided to write a fanfic inspired by it.
Hope you guys enjoy :)
Vanya was in the middle of stirring the eggs on the stove and flipping over the pancakes, when she heard feet pounding down the stairs. Diego walked into the kitchen, his rushing no longer in progress, he always raced down the staircase like he was competing with someone, Vanya thought it was cute that he had an imaginary opponent. Looking up from the pancakes she was trying her hardest not to burn, Vanya had to give herself some props, her husband was a good looking man, dressed in a pair of jeans, white shirt, and the ever present black leather jacket, complete with his gun holster, Vanya thought she was a lucky woman.
Her and Diego started off on a rocky path when they were younger and still considered themselves siblings, having been adopted by the same man who had hoped in his delusional brain that they would have superpowers. Vanya had to admit that the circumstances of her and her siblings birth was very unusual and unexplainable, but to hope and/or assume that the kids born out of such an extraordinary circumstance would have superpowers just seemed foolish to Vanya. Her father, if she could even call him that because he wasn't much of a father more of teacher mixed with a drill Sargent, had been very disappointed when all seven of the children he had hoped had some form of ability turned out to be just like any other kids in the world. Nothing special or extraordinary about them beyond their birth.
But growing up Vanya and Diego butted heads the majority of the time, Vanya was to quiet and shy for a hotheaded and impulsive Diego. She thought he was to reckless and a trouble maker to boot who needed to learn some control, he thought she was a goody-goody two shoes who needed to live more spontaneously. And that resulted in a number of arguments between Five and Diego because Diego would start something with Vanya and Five the overprotective little shit that he was would jump in to defend her.
There was a time that Vanya thought she and Diego would never get along, the only person Diego disliked more then her was their overly egotistical, self centered brother who always took it upon himself to believe he was the oldest and wisest of the group of siblings, Luther. She was glad to know she wasn't the only one on the receiving end of Diego's harsh words at the time. But as all children do, they grew up, and teen years were horrible, she didn't know what changed with Diego but suddenly he couldn't even look at her let alone throw mean words at her. Every time she walked into a room with him in it, his face would heat up with a blush and he would run away like the devil himself was after him.
Eventually their teen years passed them by in a flurry of embarrassing bodily functions and demands of privacy from each other. When they got old enough, one by one they all left the Manor to pursue their individual dreams. Allison to Hollywood to become an actress, Luther to Houston to join a space program, Klaus and by extension Ben in a hippy van with sketchy friends of theirs to tour the U.S of A, Five to Cambridge to attend Harvard. The only two left to stay within the bounds of where they grew up were Vanya and Diego, Vanya attending the local University as an English major, hoping one day to write books just like the ones she loved to read, and Diego getting into a police training program that allowed him to take relevant college credits for his goal of becoming a detective.
They didn't plan it but somehow they grew closer, it started with checking in via text or call every three to four weeks, to meeting up every couple weeks for a quick breakfast, to dinner once a week, to seeing each other every other day, to practically living together. Before Vanya registered it her and Diego had the same friends, worked their schedules around each other, and went to each other for everything, well most things, Five was still Vanya's confident even hours away, and what she couldn't tell Diego, she told Five.
She's not sure where the line between siblings and lovers faded away, she just knew one day well her and Diego were out for dinner with some police academy friends of his that she looked at him next to her, arm slung over her shoulders and realized that she loved him. Scared of her new feelings Vanya tried pulling away from him but it didn't work out so well because Diego didn't let her pull away, instead prodded her for days to tell him what was wrong until she finally spit it out to him that she was in love with him. Imagine Vanya's surprise that instead of running from her in disgust like she thought, Diego just smiled and told her like it was the most simplest thing in the world that he loved her to.
From there nothing much changed, they just had an official label of being together, that and Diego finally stopped pretending he had a home away from Vanya's, he turned in his apartment key and took the rest of his clothing to her place which in total was a few shirts and a couple of jeans.
Diego proposed to her not long after that and Vanya thought to herself that their siblings still didn't know they were together, everyone still away fulfilling their dreams like she and Diego were. Luther and Allison checked in once or twice every couple of months, but Five checked in with her and Diego (mostly her) every other day, and Klaus and Ben (mostly with Diego) every two weeks or so. But they still haven't told them that they were together, they knew they grew closer but had no idea how close, Vanya at that time was terrified on what they would think.
Sending out wedding invitations to Diego's friends was easy enough, they thought nothing of Vanya and Diego being together, they knew they were adopted and grew up as siblings but they were use to seeing them together so it never fazed them to think beyond that. Vanya's friends from her college were easy to invite as well, they didn't know much beyond that she was engaged and they wanted to attend the wedding. It was their family that Vanya hesitated sending invitations to, scared of the reactions.
But like Diego did, they managed to surprise Vanya. Five was the first one she told and he told her the sexual tension between them had finally been sated and it was about damn time and to let him know when and where and he would be there especially considering he was the one walking her down the aisle. Klaus had laughed his ass off and asked her if Diego was good in bed, Ben had calmly told them he would make sure Klaus was presentable for the wedding and that he was happy for them. Allison asked if they were happy and if so then she was happy and that was that. The two most difficult ones telling the news to had been their "father" and Luther.
Luther exploded on them at first, asking them how they could be together in that way when they were siblings, yelling at them that it wasn't right, him and Diego got into one of their famous arguments, until finally Diego shut Luther up by pointing out that Luther had been in love with Allison since they were kids and he didn't have to be mad that Vanya and Diego have what he always wanted with Allison. After that Luther apologized and said they were grown people who could do what they wanted, he would go to the wedding because he loved them but he still didn't support it 100%, it was the best they could asked for so Vanya and Diego agreed.
Their father on the other hand didn't scream or yell, just told them they continued to be disappointments to him so it was no surprise that this was a current situation for them, Diego told him to come or not come, it didn't really matter either way, they just wanted to be respectful and invite him.
The day of the wedding was one of the happiest days of her life, Vanya was so nervous to walk down the aisle in the long flowing white dress Five and Klaus helped her choose out. It felt like a dream to be walking toward Diego in the beautiful garden they reserved for the wedding, their family and friends gathered around them, gentle smiles aimed their way. Vanya had a death grip on Five's arm, she was sure she left him some bruises from how tight she held onto him. When Diego was announced as her Husband, she nearly fainted from how happy she was, nothing could have ruined that moment.
Time passed in a fly and before Vanya and Diego knew it they realized they've been married for nearly six years, Vanya graduated and went on to have three successfully books so far, Diego went from a rookie cop to top notch detective for the local precinct. Vanya didn't always like his work as it put him in dangerous situations a lot but she lived with it, Diego loved knowing he was protecting the people and she wouldn't ever dream of taking that away from him.
Allison finally caught her big break and she was now on the rise to becoming a big celebrity, she married a fellow actor named Patrick and they had a little girl named Claire that Vanya has only met a total of two times since she was born. Five now taught as a young professor at Harvard, having graduated early which was no shocker, he told Vanya that he's recently met a Norwegian model named Delores that he liked a whole lot. Luther was an astronaut for NASA, as far as Diego and Vanya knew his life was focused on work and no play, Ben branched away from Klaus to attend the college Vanya did and was now a leading Psychologist at the hospital a few miles away from where Vanya and Diego lived, and in a relationship with one of Vanya's book club friends, Helen. Klaus moved back as well satisfied that he's seen the world and all it had to offer and was ready to set down some roots, he was currently with a nice man named Dave and he worked as a director for the theater that threw all kind of plays that Vanya just loved.
"Did you hear me?" Diego's voice pulled her from her thoughts, she hadn't heard him, to busy reminiscing. He had picked at the already done pancakes well she was stuck in her thoughts.
"No I didn't," he threw her a playful offended look, grabbing on to his chest dramatically.
"How dare you not listen to me woman!" She rolled her eyes and smacked his hand away that was now trying to reach for the bacon she placed in a container.
"I was saying that were getting a new recruit today, she's transferring over from some place in Chicago," Diego loved getting new recruits, he loved teasing them and torturing their poor souls, she felt sorry for the woman that was walking into an unsuspecting trap, "Why you making so much breakfast?"
"Yeah? I'm making so much breakfast because Klaus and Ben are coming over," their brothers didn't know how to cook to save their lives so as often as they could they came over so Vanya could feed them.
"Yeah, apparently she's a real tough cookie that I shouldn't test," Diego laughed.
"You better be careful Diego, you might just meet your match in her," Vanya warned him, Diego got away with his teasing because the new recruits were always scared of him, he made for an intimidating site to the newbies.
The front door could be heard bursting open from the kitchen, Vanya had started leaving the door unlocked when she found out Klaus was an impatient man and didn't like waiting for doors that needed knocking on to grant entry, she learned this by finding him half hanging in the living room window cursing up a storm that his bony ass needed to go to a yoga studio to be more flexible.
"The fuuuun has arrived ladies and gents!" Klaus walked in the kitchen with Ben on heels, expressive as always wearing a bright pink shirt with a pixie on the front and black leather pants to match. Ben was more conservative in his black button down and jeans.
"Good morning," Ben walked around the island to give Vanya a quick hug and exchanged a fist bump with Diego.
"Vanya, Darling sister of mine, what pray tell are you making this fine morning?" Klaus along with Diego was trying to steal the bacon, he gave them both his usual kisses on both cheeks before he moved on to trying to jack her bacon.
"Eggs, pancakes, and bacon. Now get grimy little hands off," she hit his hand away with a spoon.
"It looks really good Baby, but I got to go, the newbie is gonna be showing up soon," Diego looked apologetic well he gave her a kiss and a hug goodbye.
"Okay, Love you," she muttered into his chest.
"Love you to!" He called over his shoulder on his way out, but not before snatching a couple of pieces of bacon.
"Newbie?" Questioned Ben as Vanya gave him a plate filled to the brim with food.
"Yeah, they have someone new transferring over from Chicago today, Diego's suppose to show her the ropes I guess," Vanya served herself and Klaus as she answered.
"Fresh meat," Klaus cackled like an insane person.
Later that day Diego came home with a huge smile on his face, one Vanya was not use to seeing unless she put it there. It was a smile that lite up his entire face and made crinkles form in the corners of his honey eyes. Vanya loved that smile.
"How was work?" Vanya got up from the couch where she was typing up the fifteenth chapter of her latest book, normally she would go to hers and Diego's shared office or outside on the patio furniture to write but it was drizzling outside and Vanya liked the view the living room bay window gave of the outside.
"Baby, Eudora is amazing, she's funny and she gave me a run for my money today, I got to you," Eudora? Normally the new recruits are called newbies until Diego feels they've passed his tests to be called by their last names. It wasn't often that she heard him refer to someone at work by their first name, not even Chuck, the closest of his friends at the Station gets called "Chuck" by Diego and he's known him since he was a newbie himself.
"Is she?" Vanya smiled him, this has to be some women for Diego to come home praising her.
"Yeah, she's a firecracker, had three things to throw back at me for every one I threw at her. It's about damn time someone like her came along to spruce the place up," he told her as he started removing his jacket and gun holster.
"I've always told you one day your gonna meet your match, looks like that day has finally arrived Honey-Boo," she teased him, she was happy to see him this excited over having someone to joke around with and someone who would tell him things back instead of just letting themselves be walked all over.
"Yeah...what about you Baby, whatcha been up to?" He led her back over to the couch and pulled her down into his lap, before nodding over to the still open laptop.
"Writing another chapter for my book," she pouted at him, Vanya loved writing but lately she's struggled with writers block to the max, the current book she was writing wasn't really calling to her, she was going through the motions of writing it but she wasn't feeling it, not like her other books where inspiration struck her and she was able to pop them out in three weeks flat. This book she's been working on for close to 4 months and it didn't seem to be going anywhere.
"Aw Babe, you still struggling?" He nuzzled into her shoulder blades which sent shivers down her spine. Diego knew that she struggled with this book but he had thought she had gotten over her writers block.
"Yeah, I'm half way through the book already but I'm just not feeling it, you know?" He didn't know but he nodded anyways. He wasn't creative like his wife, she could spin worlds in her books that people were captivated with, he was better with his gun and fists then he was with words and typing.
"Maybe we can go upstairs so I can inspire you," he wiggled his eyes brows suggestively.
"You're such a dork," she giggled, but getting inspired by him sounded like a plan so she jumped off his lap and pulled him up the stairs toward their bedroom.
Vanya woke up in the middle of the night to hear Diego muttering to himself in his sleep. She rolled her eyes fondly at him, he often did that when he came home from an exhausting and frustrating day at work. Sometimes he would say silly things like "The pickles love to party" or "Unicorns fart rainbows", other times he would say Vanya's name or one of their other siblings, one particular time Vanya almost died of laughing because he said "Luther has a Hank Hill ass". Vanya couldn't make out what he was saying this time, she leaned closer to him to try and make it out.
"Eudora," that came out of Diego's mouth clearly, the smile that was on her face disappeared.
It's been a good three months since Diego came home raving about the "firecracker" of a girl. And everyday since then Vanya has heard something or another about the woman. Diego came home later now and walked in through the door talking about her and what amazing thing she did or said. Not long after he would asked her half heartily how her day went and then retire to bed, leaving Vanya in the living and the next day would be a repeat.
Vanya has never felt insecure in her relationship with Diego, the only thing coming close to that feeling was when she was going to tell their family of their wedding. But she's never thought of herself to ugly, fat, skinny, boring, etc to be with Diego, she felt secure with him knowing he loved her and she loved him. She's never worried about his eyes wandering or his mind fantasying about other women.
That is until Eudora came along, and suddenly Vanya had a Husband that couldn't stop talking about and praising another woman. It didn't bother her at first, she understood Diego's fascination and excitement, she assumed it would fade eventually, but as time went on it became very clear that Eudora was only captivating him more.
"Eudora," Diego said again in his sleep, "want you." Vanya's heart split in half, fat blobs of tears started rolling down her cheeks, she quietly got up, grabbed her phone and left the room.
Looking down at the clock on her phone she read 4:42AM in big bold letters, the background of her phone was of Diego and her sharing a kiss, looking at it sent aches through her heart. Going outside to sit on the patio, she went through her contacts and called the only person she could think of that would know what to do. Pressing the phone to her ear Vanya listened to the rings on the other end.
"Hello?" They answered in a tired voice.
"Five?" Vanya sobbed into the phone, she couldn't hold it back anymore and harsh sobs came out to accompany the silent tears that were flowing from her eyes.
"Vanya, what's wrong! Are you okay!" His voice went from tired and calm to loud and frantic, she could hear his bed sheets rustling in the background and an accented voice asking him if everything was okay.
"H-H-He s-said he-her nam-name i-in," She stopped when her sobs became to much for her to handle. She wasn't even sure why she was sobbing this hard, it wasn't like she caught Diego doing anything necessarily wrong or bad but even knowing that she couldn't hold back the pain that was wreaking her body in that moment.
"Who said what? What name? What are you talking about?" Five fired his questions one right after the other, he couldn't do much else and not for the first time did he wish he lived closer to Vanya, she needed him right now and he wasn't there. Vanya was quiet for a few minutes as she tried to compose herself, she could hear Five's breathes on the other end of the phone patiently waiting for her to pull herself together.
"He s-said her n-name in his s-sleep," she was finally able to get out to him, her sobs had calmed down but the tears remained.
"Who said her name? What name, Vanya?" She was making no sense to Five.
"Diego, he said Eudora's name in his sleep right now, said he wanted her," Five could tell Vanya was barley holding it together, anger welled up in him and wished he was there to not only comfort Vanya but to ask Diego just what the fuck was he thinking.
"Who the fuck is Eudora?" He hasn't heard that name before, who the fuck was this woman to be upsetting his sister right now.
"She's this lady who works with Diego at the station," Vanya said back, "She just transferred there not to long ago and Diego has been coming home for a while now talking about her. He never shuts up about her Five, and I didn't think-but now he's talking about her in his sleep."
Five was quiet on the other end, Vanya looked at the phone to see if the call disconnected because it was to quiet, she couldn't even hear him breathing.
"I'm on my way," he stated.
"What? Five you can't just leave home, that's not why I called-I just needed to," Vanya was interrupted.
"I'm on my way," he said again with more firmness, "It will take me some hours but I'll be there, for now go take a bath and try to relax, don't think about anything, just ignore Diego and I'll be there soon, okay?"
"Okay," she hung up the phone and took a deep breath before walking back into the house. After the melt down she just had a bath actually sounded amazing. In their room Diego was still sleeping, now in the middle of the bed, legs and arms spread eagle.
She paused in the doorway, and just stared at him, he was still muttering things in his sleep but thankfully not her name anymore. Vanya felt like she was losing her Husband to this woman, a woman she's never met before. Vanya didn't know what she would do without Diego, he was everything to her, she loved him with everything she was and she couldn't imagine her life without him.
Grabbing a towel, sweats, and one of Diego's many hoodies Vanya made her way to the bathroom and ran herself a bath.
She was staring at the empty screen of her laptop on the couch, she tried to get her mind off of things and figured working on her book was a good idea, it wasn't. All it did was make Vanya feel worse, she's never felt hopeless in her life but even though she knew she was being dramatic she felt like her world was falling apart and she was doing nothing but watching it. The bath that Five had suggested did wonders for muscles Vanya hadn't realized were scrunched and it did help her relax but only for a moment, and that moment had long passed.
Like every morning she could hear Diego coming down the steps in a hurry, before she imagined him racing his imaginary opponent, now she imagined he raced down the steps because he was in a hurry to see Eudora, the sooner he left the house, the sooner he could be with her.
"Morning Baby," he came over and kissed her forehead, he looked down at the laptop and chuckled, "Working on your book?" he asked, he went to the kitchen and came back with a cup of coffee in less then a minute. She nodded her head but didn't look up at him, she didn't want to see any kind of smile or sparkle in his eyes that she didn't put there.
"I got to go, Eudora just called me to tell me we have a break through in this case were working on. Don't wait up for me, I don't know how long I'm gonna be at the Station today," he told her as he gathered his things together and put the coffee mug back in the kitchen. She nodded again, he came over and pressed a chaste kiss to her lips before leaving the house.
Vanya was outside just watching the cars pass by when Five pulled into the driveway. He was still dressed in his pajamas, which consisted of flannel pajama pants and a black t-shirt. He got out of the car and walked toward her, he sat down next to her and pulled her to his chest without a word. Vanya again couldn't help the sobs that spilled over. Five let her cry on him and just kept quiet well she soaked his shirt with tears.
"What's going on Van?" He asked her in a hushed tone, Vanya could remember all the times when they were kids when Five would fight her battles for her, when he would dry her tears, when he would make a fool of himself just to see her smile and laugh. He was always so gentle with her, a complete opposite to how he was with everyone else.
In their teen years Vanya had a tiny crush on Five, how could she not, when he did sweet things for her and stuck by her and made her feel special. She never told anyone her secret, till this day no one knew and it was something no one would ever know, Vanya was going to take it to the grave. She stopped having her crush on him when she went to college and got her first boyfriend Leonard, whom turned out to be a weird guy whose actual name was Harold. Vanya didn't love that man but he did play an essential roll to getting over her crush on Five. Vanya thought her crush would come back but she never did find that out because her and Diego started seeing each other more and then that turned into something.
"Diego's pulling away from me Five and I don't know what I'm suppose to do," she whispered to him. What was she suppose to do? Confront Diego, and demand to know what was going on? Demand to know why he never shuts up about Eudora? Demand why he's dreaming of her?
"Your not suppose to do anything because this shouldn't even be a conversation were having right now. What the fuck is going through his head? Where is he right now?" Five told himself he was going to come and calmly listen to Vanya but seeing her this upset was making him upset.
"At the Station," she answered, "Do you think-do you think he's..." Vanya left her question open, she didn't want to say the word, saying that word would make all this real and she couldn't handle that.
"If he wants to keep his balls and dick then he better not have," Five threatened, affection for Five ran through her veins, she had no doubt that Five would go all kinds of spider monkey on Diego if she asked him to and for whatever reason that made her feel better. She couldn't stop the laugh that burst through her lips, her laugh had Five smiling at her.
"In all seriousness though Vanya, if your feeling some kind of way, you need to talk to him," Vanya knew Five was right, she just didn't know how she was suppose to bring it up to him, how she was suppose to go about it without seeming like she was already accusing him.
"Your right, you know you didn't have to drive all the way down here right?" She was glad he did but she felt bad that he left in the middle of the night because she had a freak out.
"It's no big deal," he shrugged in response, "I was overdue for a visit anyway."
Vanya wanted to be distracted today, she didn't want to deal with any of this right now, she just wanted to feel like it was a normal visit with Five and come back to the drama at a later time. Analyze Diego's behavior in more detail later.
"Did you bring clothes or is that all you have with you?" She pointed to his pajamas.
"Delores packed me a couple things when I was on the phone with you," he told her.
"You want to get changed and get out of here? I could really use some retail therapy at this point," she admitted, Vanya never imagined herself as a shopaholic, and she wasn't on any normal day but when she was upset she felt energy gathering up in her and she's found an excellent way to release it was through shopping.
"Ben would say that's a very unhealthy way to cope with your problems Van," they walked to his car to pull out the plain black suit case Delores had packed for him, apparently it was more then a "couple" of things, and went inside so he could change.
"Yeah well unless Ben wants to proscribe me the good drugs he can suck it," she teased, she was already feeling better and putting Diego to the back of her mind.
Vanya once again found herself on the couch, this time cuddled with Five watching a movie. They had came home with arms filled with bags that Vanya didn't have the energy to put away, so they were just dumped on the bed. Five suggested a movie to which Vanya agreed. It was late and Diego still hadn't come home and it was making her anxious but she was trying to ignore it.
She was half asleep when her phone started ringing, picking it up an unfamiliar number lite up the screen. She was hesitant to answer but she figured there was no harm in just telling the other person they got the wrong number.
"Hello," she answered, Five sat up and paused the movie.
"Vanya?" A deep male voice said from the other end.
"Chuck?" She questioned, she didn't talk to Diego's friend all that much so she was worried why he was calling her at, she looked at the clock on the wall, at 1:56AM, her eyes got wide, she didn't realize how much time had passed and how late it was.
"Vanya, it's Diego, there's been an accident."
Rushing into the hospital with Five on her heels, Vanya skidded to a stop in front of the front desk, the lady smiled up at her but Vanya couldn't find it in herself to smile back.
"Diego Hargreeves, what room is he in?" She rushed to ask the lady, she wasn't trying to be rude but she didn't have time for pleasantries. The nurse thankfully seemed to understand and she typed away at her computer. Vanya could feel Five's hand rubbing circles into her back in silent comfort.
"Room 304, it's on the fourth level..." The lady continued to say something but Vanya grabbed her visitors pass and rushed away from her without letting her finish and went to the elevators and repeatedly pressed the up button.
Coming out of the elevator on the 4th floor, Five had to catch Vanya when she tripped on air, "Vanya slow down, your going to hurt yourself," he reprehended her but she ignored him and searched for Diego's room number.
Stopping in front of his door, she paused to look at him through the window that was connected to his room, the curtain to it was draw away so she could see the whole room and him.
He was laying down on the hospital bed, bruises covered his face that was red and swelled up, one of his arms was wrapped in a cast and his torso was wrapped in bandages. She wasn't necessarily shocked to see him like this, Chuck told her Diego was undercover and somehow got found out, was beat to pulp, his arm broken, and was shot in his side. Diego didn't tell her he was working an undercover case, just told her there was a break through in a case. Normally it wasn't something that he kept from her knowing how much more in danger he was in when going undercover, she had to wonder when he started to feel the need to withhold information like that.
So no she wasn't surprised to see him like this, it did hurt her and she wished she could take away the pain that so obviously painted his face but what she was surprised to see was a woman seated in the bed with him.
She looked worried as her gaze ran the length of Diego's body. She was leaning her body half over him, reaching to brush her fingers through his hair well she opened her mouth to tell him something to which he smiled at. She was dressed in a pant suit with her badge hanging off her side, brown hair pulled back in a low ponytail. She was beautiful and Vanya could see now what Diego liked about this woman, physically speaking.
Five wrapped his arm around her waist and tightened it, "Is that Eudora?" He asked, his voice was low with anger, his eyes stuck on the two forms in bed. Vanya nodded her head, she's never met her before but she had no doubt in her mind that the woman currently making Diego's eyes shine bright like diamonds was Eudora.
She pulled Five with her into the room, Eudora jumped from the bed in a startle, her eyes going wide well they went between Diego and them. Vanya saw a flash of guilt in her face but it was gone just as fast as it came.
"Vanya!" Diego sounded happy to see her, he opened his arms as wide as he could with his injuries, a silent invitation to go into them.
"Are we interrupting something?" Five spit out, he was glaring at Diego and throwing daggered looks to Eudora, his arm was still around Vanya's waist and was tightening by the second.
"What? No, of course not," Diego put down his arms once he noticed Vanya was staying firmly away from him.
"I should get going," Eudora picked up a purse from one of the tables and walked over to Diego only to pause when she got there, again looking between Diego and them, stopping an obvious impulsive action she's done many times because now there's witnesses to such an action.
"What, so soon? Did we ruin your little moment?" Five was barley holding in his anger, he couldn't lash out because then he would be kicked out of the hospital and possibly arrested but that didn't mean he couldn't use his words to make the wounds he desperately wanted his fists to make.
Everyone was quiet, not really knowing what to say to that. Diego was looking increasingly worried about something.
"I'm Vanya, Diego's wife," Vanya spoke up, she moved from Five's hold and stepped over to the woman who was still by Diego's bed, frozen.
"I know," the other woman told her in a matter-a-fact tone, "I'm Eudora, Diego's partner from work," she sounded confident, something Vanya wasn't liking, sounded like she knew things Vanya only wished she knew.
"Partner?" Vanya questioned, more secrets? Diego gave her a sheepish look from his bed.
"I was going to tell you, but you've been busy with your book and I just haven't had a chance," that was a lie, Vanya wasn't busy with anything certainly not her book that she's been struggling to write. He had plenty of moments to tell her and he didn't, to busy rushing out of the house to be with his "Partner". The question was, why did he feel the need to hide it?
"Bullshit," Five spat, "The fuck you mean you didn't have a chance to tell her yet? To busy getting your dick wet?" Five had taken a couple of steps forward, Vanya put her arm out to stop him from taking more.
"What are you even doing here Five?" Diego spat right back. He looked unconcerned with what Five just said, running over it like Five told him the weather. Vanya waited to see if he said anything more but he didn't.
"Your not going to deny it?" Vanya whispered her chest contracting inward with pain, he wasn't denying what Five basically accused him of, more upset that Five was here then what he was saying to him. Her first reaction to being told something like that would be to say it's not true not to question why anybody was there or not there.
"Deny what! There is nothing for me to deny! So no Vanya I'm not going to deny anything!" He screamed at her, Vanya can count on one hand the number of times Diego had raised his voice at her, she was startled to see how quick he was to jump to screaming at her.
"Okay," Five looked to Vanya when she said that, disbelieving that she was just going to let it go that fast and that easily but Vanya had heard all she needed to hear. No words were going to cover what she could see, there was guilt and shame in Diego's eyes, he could tell her there was nothing to deny all he wanted but she knows how to read him and his face was giving her all the answers she needed, she didn't know Eudora but even her face was giving away things.
"Come one Five, let's go. I'll see you at home Diego, I'm so glad your okay," she told him before she turned around and pulled Five out of the room with her, Five looked like he wanted to argue with her but chose instead to just follow.
When she arrived home is when she couldn't keep it in anymore, and what felt like the millionth time in such a short period, sobs over took her body. Five pulled her into his lap and started whispering to her that everything was going to be okay. She had really hoped she was just overreacting to the whole thing, that Diego wasn't doing what she thought, that he wouldn't hurt her like that. She felt like a fool, she should have seen it coming, there was hints all over the place now that she thought back on it.
Late night texts and phones calls, always talking about her, staying at work well past work hours, and countless of other things that Vanya just chose to overlook because she loved him and didn't want her world to crumble around her. Vanya could easily see now how easy it was for Eudora to take Diego away from her, really it wasn't like she put up a fight, she didn't even know there was a fight until Eudora had already won it.
Had she known she was fighting for him she would have begged Eudora to not take him, tell her he means everything to Vanya and she couldn't take him from her, that she could have anyone so why take him when he belonged to Vanya.
8 months Later
"I absolutely love this book," the young woman smiled at Vanya, "I can't tell you how many times I cried reading it, it really meant a lot to me and helped me through a rough period, and I can't thank you enough for that," Vanya smiled back at her.
"I'm glad to hear that," Vanya grabbed the book from her hands and looked at the cover, her newest book "Shadowed Love" seemed to mock her. She was glad that women everywhere seemed to keep telling her they loved her book and it's helped them, but Vanya could barley hold back the scowl from her face anytime she seen it.
She wrote it in a fit of anger at Diego, the story-line closely resembled what she went through with him. She didn't think before she sent the finished copy to her publisher, she was just happy that she finally was able to produce a book that didn't take her fifty years to write one chapter, happy that her writer's block was unblocked. That is until her book shot off the shelves and started becoming a readers favorite, she now had to attend book signings and smile and act like she's happy and like she didn't resent the truth behind the story-line.
Diego had come home a week after being in the hospital, acting like nothing had happened and everything was fine, she hadn't called him or visited him in that week, instead she packed her things and waited.
She didn't know what she going to do at first, she wanted to be with Diego, she didn't want to live a life without him as her Husband but she couldn't forgive what he did, didn't want to forgive him for what he did. She knew that he had to much power over her already and she needed to take some of it back so after talking with Five about her plans he agreed to help her pack everything she needed before he went back home to get everything ready for her there. He told her he would be back whenever she called to take her things to his place.
Vanya called him close to a month after Diego came home, she doesn't know why she waited so long, she just did, maybe she had hoped in some part of her that they could move past what he did. But in that month her and Diego fought everyday over stupid things and over big things, they did nothing but argue constantly, so finally she called Five and he came with help in the form of their brothers to get her already packed things from the house.
Klaus, Ben, and Five packed the stuff in a small U-Haul that Five had rented. Klaus and Ben were Vanya's support well Five was away, she loved her brothers and she was glad they were there when she needed them to be. They were angry when they found out the reason for Vanya's and Diego's split but they were both their siblings so Vanya didn't want them choosing sides or making threats to Diego. It took some convincing on her end but they eventually agreed to not hold what Diego did over his head and not let it affect their own interactions with Diego.
After the stuff was packed Vanya had just wanted to leave, but Five had refused to stating that he had unfinished business with Diego and thus cops were called to pull Five away from Diego. He had tried to make do on his threat without success, thankfully Diego didn't press charges but Vanya was an emotional mess. She was happy to know Five was trying to protect her like he always had but upset for the reason behind him feeling the need to protect her.
Once Vanya moved in with Five and her book was out, she had to let herself come to realization that her and Diego weren't together anymore. She had to come to terms with her lost love, at that point she had just avoided it and channeled any emotions over it into her book, but now she had to let herself feel if she wanted to move on.
Vanya wasn't okay yet but she wasn't hurting as much either, she was slowly getting better and pulling herself away from negative emotions and she was trying to learn forgiveness for herself, for Diego, for Eudora, for the situation but some day's were harder then others and today having been seated behind the flimsy desk, signing books, was one of those hard days that Vanya wanted to just cry and throw the books and scream.
"You okay?" Five's voice brought her out of her head, he was seated next to her with his arm slung over her shoulders, ready to take her away if it all became to much for her.
"Yeah," she told him, Five has been a gift from the gods, he was here for her just as he's always been. Without his support she wasn't sure where she would be, he quite literally sometimes has picked her up and helped her stand on her own two feet. She didn't know how to repay him for everything he's done for her so far and everything he is no doubt going to do in the future. Poor Five lost his relationship because of Vanya, no matter how many times Five tells her it wasn't her fault. Delores had left him when 2 months into living with them she asked Five when Vanya was leaving and he responded with "hopefully never", screaming at him that she shouldn't and wouldn't compete for his affections with his sister. It didn't help that Five's response to that was a scoff and resort of "Compete? There is no competition" and proceeded to lead Vanya out of the room.
It's been Vanya and Five since then, with Klaus and Ben checking up and occasionally coming down to visit them. One of the times relaying the information that Diego was with Eudora now, Vanya got drunk that night and cursed Diego to the pits of hell...it wasn't her best moment.
"You want to leave?" Five asked her, he was ready to go, he came to these things for Vanya but sometimes these book signing were boring as fuck and this was one of those times.
"God yes," Vanya laughed, with Five by her side, she knew she would be okay.
3 Years Later
"You ready for this?" Five asked her from his place in front of her, he was holding her hands tightly in his own, huge smile on his face, tears in the corners of his eyes.
"Absolutely," Vanya assured him, she was absolutely without a doubt ready to marry him.
Vanya didn't know what true happiness and love was up until now, she thought she had found her forever in Diego but turned out that her forever resided in different man and it took a Jolene to see that.
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
I'm begging of you please don't take my man
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
Please don't take him just because you can
Your beauty is beyond compare
With flaming locks of auburn hair
With ivory skin and eyes of emerald green
Your smile is like a breath of spring
Your voice is soft like summer rain
And I cannot compete with you, Jolene
He talks about you in his sleep
There's nothing I can do to keep
From crying when he calls your name, Jolene
And I can easily understand
How you could easily take my man
But you don't know what he means to me, Jolene
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
I'm begging of you please don't take my man
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
Please don't take him just because you can
You could have your choice of men
But I could never love again
He's the only one for me, Jolene
I had to have this talk with you
My happiness depends on you
And whatever you decide to do, Jolene
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
I'm begging of you please don't take my man
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
Please don't take him even though you can
Jolene, Jolene
A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed, feel free to drop a review :)
***ANSWER TO REVIEW***
To: Maudlin Blase: Thank you so much for the review, and to answer your question, no I didn't re-upload this story to this fanfiction site, however it was uploaded to "Archive Of Own Own" a while back, and I barley got around to cross posting it here lol. I'm also hoping that in season 2 they take a directional turn with Vanya and Diego and have them start getting closer because it's true he did have the most extreme reactions to Vanya in season one because in my personal opinion his affection/love for her runs more deeply and in a different way then their siblings affection/love for her (or maybe that's just my fan-girl heart seeing things that aren't there and I'm reading way to much into every interaction lol). But I do know he won't be chasing after Eudora, because I think she died in the first season if I'm remembering correctly (oh god I hope they don't bring her back, I just remembered that they like reset time or something didn't they? I need to re-watch the show lol), but they might try to drag out his mourning of her which is equally as bad (which sounds a bit harsh but it is what it is lol). I didn't care to much for Eudora to be honest, she felt like a forced character, and her interactions with Diego I felt were kind of fake and without real emotions on her end, I don't know I just didn't like her and I could have gone without. Anyways, I'm glad you liked the story, thank you again for the review, it's beyond appreciated :)