A/N: Hope you guys enjoy :)


Chapter Eight: What's With The Face?

Vanya could hear dishes being banged around in the kitchen, Luna was probably attempting to get herself some juice, she turned around on the small cushions the couch provided, for some odd reason the couch felt smaller and scratchier than normal. Unlike the manor's stupid couches, hers didn't defeat their purpose in life, they were comfortable enough to sit in and go to sleep on, or maybe that was her imagination, she shifted again trying to find a comfier position. Luna was digging around in the kitchen still; Vanya thinks she should get up and serve her before she makes a complete disastrous mess of all the food and drinks in the refrigerator and cabinets.

Blinking her eyes open, she reached her arms up to rub the sleepiness away, she has no idea how long she slept for or why she slept on the couch but all she wants to do is lay back down and go back to sleep, she was exhausted.

Glancing around the house expecting to see her familiar mess of a home, she had a second of panic from not recognizing anything, this wasn't her house, far from it, this place looked like it came straight out of a 70's home catalog.

"Good morning." Someone said from the large archway leading to the kitchen, Vanya had to squint to see who it was, her vision was still fuzzy with sleep.

"Hi." Leonard stood in the archway with two brown mugs in his hands, steam coming out from them, the heavenly smell of coffee was assaulting her nose, she perked up from the smell alone. He slowly walked over to her to hand over one of the mugs, carefully placing it in her hands.

"I'm sorry if I woke you up with all the noise." Vanya thought he was going to sit down next to her on the couch but instead he moved over and sat himself on the love seat that was to the left of the couch.

"No worries." She replied back, she leaned the mug up against her lips to slowly sip at the coffee inside, it was the perfect mixture of sugar and cream, it was smooth and warm going down her throat, she wondered how Leonard knew how she liked her coffee, she supposed that it was a lucky guess on his end.

When she had showed up unexpectedly at his shop, Vanya thought Leonard was going to tell her she was an insane person for being out in the middle of the night, in the rain no less, and she should go home before she caught a cold. But he didn't do that, instead he invited her into his shop where they talked for hours well the rain had calmed down outside.

They didn't talk about anything substantial, mostly the conversation centered on music and movies, but for Vanya there was no pressure to feel like she had to be something for him that she wasn't. There was no lingering feelings of anger, regret, and hope aimed in his direction, there was no consuming thoughts on what to do or love so embedded in her for him that she almost lost herself to it. It was easy to talk to Leonard, it was nice and simple, she was surprised to find that she enjoyed every minute of it.

Eventually though the rain had stopped, and the sun had come up in the horizon, a soft orange glow slowly rising in the sky. She was going to go back to the manor but decided against it when he offered an alternative of going back to his house to rest. She had passed out on his lumpy couch the moment her head it the pillow he let her borrow.

"I meant to ask you last night, but you seemed pretty upset over something and I didn't want to make it worst," Leonard paused in his words to give her a look that asked if it was okay to ask his question, at Vanya's nod he continued, "Where's your daughter?"

"With her dad." Vanya truthfully answered. It was an odd sentence to leave her mouth, it didn't feel wrong though, mostly unusual and awkward on her tongue. The first thought to go through her head was to lie to him considering who Diego was to her before becoming her baby daddy but she saw no reason to (as long as she kept that bit of information to herself), it was obvious Leonard liked her, and Vanya didn't want to give him any delusions about Diego's place in Luna's life. She liked Leonard well enough, she's not sure if in that way yet but last night was comfortable, it was a relief that aided her, she felt closer to him now. But in any case, he should be aware that Diego was in the picture.

"Your friend? The one I met before violin practice?" He looked curious, Vanya again saw no reason to lie, so she nodded back, she didn't appreciate the look of shock he had on his face, it was there and gone in second though, in its place a smile sat, questioning him on why that look appeared in the first place was gone just as fast.

"He hasn't been around much the past couple years," more like not at all, Vanya thought to herself "but he wants to be a part of Luna's life now and I can't hold that chance back from Luna or him." She explained, she didn't have to, she knows that, but she felt like she had to explain Diego's presence in her life, not that Leonard had any say in that, but Vanya wanted to be honest with him...as much as she could be at least.

"Well I hope he's a good father, for Luna's sake." He got up from the couch to take her mug along with his own back to the kitchen, a beep from her phone had Vanya reaching into her coat that sat on the armrest of the couch to pull the phone free from the pocket. A reminder note for violin rehearsal was on the screen, as well as one to take her pill, Vanya had a habit of forgetting when her rehearsals were as well as when to take her pill so she set reminder notes up on her phone for the piece of technology could tell her.

She reached back into the coat pocket for her pills, but she pulled out an empty bottle, she frantically started patting the coat down hoping to find some loose pill that she hadn't noticed she dropped, she came up empty handed.

"What's wrong?" Leonard had come back into the living room, he stood at the archway watching her anxiously search around the armrest of the couch for a possible spare pill as well.

"My pills, I forgot to refill them. My head has been everywhere lately and now I don't have pills." She couldn't believe how forgetful she was sometimes, and with something as important as her pills to.

"I'm sure you'll do just fine without them for one day." Leonard reassured her with a teasing smile, she stopped looking around for the non-existent spare pill, embarrassed that she was acting so ridiculous.

"You're right, it's just my routine, I guess, I've been taking them since I was kid for my nerves, I'm not use to not having them with me." Vanya pulled on her coat, she folded the blanket that he let her borrow and fixed up the couch the best she could, it really was an ugly thing that was barley a step above the ones at the manor.

"Do you have someplace to be?" He asked her, his eyes taking in her fixing up his couch, getting ready to leave.

"Um yeah I'm sorry, I have rehearsal to get to and I need to still stop by the manor for Luna and my house for my violin." She didn't mean to seem rude and in a rush to get out of his house, but she'd rather not be late again to rehearsals, the last time the conductor made her feel bad about herself when he told her he hadn't noticed her being absent, what a hit her ego took that day.

She had walked to Leonard's wood shop last night, the anger she felt fueled her for the long walk, Vanya wished she still had some of it left over for her now to be able to have the energy to walk back to the manor, it was easy yesterday because the exercise was calm for her in that moment, but she imagines the walk back won't be as easy.

"Rehearsal?" Leonard voiced back, that was something Vanya had talked to him about last night, her envy for Helen, the first chair. How she almost dreaded rehearsal now because she felt like she wasn't good enough to be there, she wasn't Helen good. Her music sounded good but the emotion behind a beautiful piece came not from knowing the cords but from within a person, so far in her life Vanya hasn't found that yet. She's tried, she's practiced, she's studied but unfortunately what she's looking for can't be bought or learned, it's just something from the heart, something from the soul that comes out on its own.

"Yeah, but I have to pick up my daughter first." Leonard went over to a nearby stand that had a rather hideous looking Lama statue on it to pick up a pair of car keys, they clanked against his hand when he shook them in her direction.

"I'll give you a lift there." He told her walking over to his front door to open it, gesturing for her to go outside first.

"Really? I mean are you sure?" They both had walked out the front door before she muttered her sentence to him, she didn't want to walk to the manor, Vanya walking to the car with him already explained her answer enough but she still felt like she had to ask, it was only polite to make sure.

"I'm positive." He opened the car door for her so she could get in, no one had done that for her since Diego, it made her face heat up. Though someone probably wouldn't guess it, Vanya liked the little things like that that made up a relationship (not that her and Leonard were together but still), she liked chairs to be pulled out, doors to be opened, hand holding, kisses on the forehead and cheeks, simple cute things that would make her heart flutter causing the blood in her veins to rush to her face.

It was quiet on the drive there, but it was a comfortable silence not stuffy or awkward. Vanya's thoughts were back on Diego, she felt kind of guilty for that because here was a man that didn't come with complications, he was fun to be with, comfortable to be with, he liked her and made it known, yet her thoughts were on someone that has hurt her, used her, and discarded her.

"So, um would you-would you like to go to dinner with me?" Leonard hesitantly asked her, they had pulled up to the manor already, but his question halted her movement to leave the car. The answer Vanya was going to immediately tell him was not exactly a "no", but it was excuses that explained a "no". But like her movement to get out of the car, the words stopped on the way out of her mouth.

"Yeah, of course." She answered instead. Vanya owed it to herself to explore her options, just because Diego was back in her life didn't mean that she couldn't express interest in someone else, she shouldn't hold herself back in accordance to him. Maybe what they had was no longer anything but dreaded emotions, she loves Diego, but where has that love gotten her so far? She's never let her heart not be consumed by him, maybe that's why all of this is so difficult to understand and deal with, maybe what Vanya needs is to open herself up to someone else to try to experience what she and Diego have...had?...with that person. It wouldn't be the same, she knows that, but it could be good, healthy, and sweet if she lets it blossom instead of stomping it out before it has a chance to grow.

"Awesome. I'll talk you later?" At Vanya's nod, he reached into the glove department to pull out a notepad and a pen, he scribbled his phone number down before ripping the paper free to hand it to her. She smiled at him before exiting the car, she stepped back to watch him drive off, not once thinking to question him how he knew where the manor was when she hadn't given him directions. She quickly pulled her phone out to save his contact and send him a text so he would have her number before she crumbled up the piece of paper to throw it into the street, after that she make her way to the front door and stepped inside the big house. There was a quiet murmur coming from the sitting room, Vanya couldn't hear exactly what was being said but she could tell it was Diego talking in a low voice.

"... make everything right, I promise." He was whispering to a sleeping Luna, even from a distance Vanya could see the dried tears on her little bug's cheeks, the redness lining her eyes were making them puff out. Vanya cleared her throat to get Diego's attention, at that sound he jumped a foot in the air, he turned around already in a protective stance in front of their daughter before he noticed who it was and relaxed his stance.

"Did she sleep last night?" Vanya moved over to sit on the couch with Luna, she ran her fingers through her brown strands of hair, smoothing some it back from her face.

"No, she stayed up all night asking about Klaus. I sent Allison to look for him, but she couldn't find him." He answered her still talking low so he wouldn't wake Luna up. She had stayed up all night crying for Klaus, her sobs were making her hiccup, stunting her breathing, that's when Diego told Allison to go look for him in the usual sketchy places, he wished it was easy and he could just call his brother, but Klaus didn't own a phone. When Allison returned a couple hours later shaking her head, no Klaus following right behind her, Diego wanted to leave to look for their brother himself, but he didn't because at the sight of her aunt with no uncle Luna's sobs got that much worse, but she wouldn't say anything beyond his name. She said "hurt" once or twice in the night but other than that it was just asking for Klaus.

"I'm sorry-sorry about last night, I was worried and scared you and Luna were going-going to be taken from me before we even had a chance to-to be a family. I shouldn't have yelled-yelled at you though; I was wrong for-for that." After Vanya had stormed off, Diego had thought on her words and realized she was right to hide in the closet with Luna. They didn't know what they were up against last night, running around with their daughter would have been a mistake. He didn't think of that in that moment but afterward he felt bad, he had wanted to call Vanya to apologize but he didn't because he knew she needed time away from him.

The apology was a little awkward to give, not because Diego didn't mean it, but he's not used to apologizing for his rash choices or his outbursts of anger, normally he just acts like nothing happened and everyone moves on, but this time was different, he can't just move right along like nothing happened, like they didn't argue.

"It's okay, I shouldn't have taken off like that, I'm sorry to." Vanya didn't regret where she ended up after leaving the house but like Diego she had time to analyze things, she came to the realization that she should have talked through everything instead of running away, she doesn't want to make a habit of that, of running when things got to be too much for her. If their co-parenting had any hope of working out, then her running away from their disagreements was going to do nothing but make things worse, on top of that it would prolong their making up.

"Thank you for watching her-" Diego waved her words away with a flick of his hand, shaking his head.

"She's OUR daughter Vanya, I would do anything for her, you don't need to thank me." He put stress on the word "our" because that was something Vanya needed to understand sooner rather than later. He wasn't going anywhere, Luna was their daughter not just hers, he had to be given the chance to be a good father to her without Vanya throwing it in his face that he wasn't there for his daughter when he didn't even know he had one.

"It's going take some time to get use to that OUR part Diego, I hope you realize that I can't go from being her only parent to co-parenting in a split second and there not be bumps in the road along the way." He was right but so was she in their individual assessments of the same situation.

"I understand that." Diego replied and he did, he wasn't asking for Vanya to become comfortable with this in a split second or trying purposely to make her feel like he was taking over the parental front, all he wants and all he's asking for is a real chance to be there for Luna without being reminded that he hasn't been there thus far.

"I have rehearsals right now, do you mind moving her to the car so I can take her home, the babysitter is going be there soon." Vanya got up from the couch and motioned for Diego to pick up Luna, without protest he leaned over to pick her up, Vanya got her little one's bag, together they walked outside to her car.

"I have something to tell you, um mom is uh not working right now." Diego told her as she opened the car door so he could strap Luna into her car seat.

"Not working? What does that mean?" Vanya questioned with a frown in her brow.

"Her wires were pulled apart last night, she's shut down. Allison and Luther found her sitting like that in front of her charging station." Diego let it go unsaid that he was the one who did that to their mother, he didn't exactly lie to Vanya, more like he just let her make her own conclusions on what happened. He thought about telling her the truth but decided against it, he didn't want her thinking she couldn't' trust him after what he did.

"Oh my god." Vanya gasped, those sick bastards from last night must have found their poor unsuspecting mother and didn't think twice about hurting her. Diego closed the door to the car when he was sure Luna was strapped in good. Seeing the sprinkle of tears in Vanya's eyes Diego couldn't stop himself from wrapping her up tight in his arms, burying his face in her hair, squeezing her in a tight hug that she returned. They stayed wrapped in each other's arms for a moment before Vanya pulled away to wipe the few traitor tears that escaped off her cheeks.

"I'm sorry Diego." Out of all of them Diego was the one most connected to their mother, Vanya couldn't imagine how he was dealing with her being treated that way by those sick people, how he was still standing and not breaking down in his anger and sadness Vanya doesn't know. They could probably fix her but considering that they were contemplating shutting her down themselves put a halt to that thought so it was uncertain right now if they were getting their mother back.

"It's fine, I'm okay." Diego stated, he didn't want to feel the guilt and shame right now, so he switched the subject, he only brought it up, so Vanya wasn't told by someone else.

"I'm going to go talk to Eudora about what happened last night, there's been a few calls from the police scanner that I've ignored so maybe she knows something about who those people were. I'm also going to go look a little more for Klaus to see if I can find him and Five to cause he's been missing since I dropped him off with Delores." Diego told her, he wanted at least to be honest about that with her, tell her where he was going, what he was going to be doing, and who he was going to be seeing.

"Eudora?" Vanya said the name slowly with a scowl on her face, the jealousy was a green mist that washed over her body in a slow wave, it was unexpected, but Vanya did nothing to rid herself of the emotion.

"Yeah...nothing's going on between me and her, I don't love her anymore Vanya, I told you that already," he rushed to reassure her, maybe bringing up Eudora was a mistake, "but we do talk sometimes when I need help with stuff, or when she needs help with her cases." He didn't think it was that big of a deal, he doesn't feel anything for Eudora anymore, how could he when he has Vanya in front of him.

"It's none of my business who you talked to." Even as Vanya said the words, she didn't believe them, a small part of her told her it wasn't her business, but a larger part told her it was because Eudora is the last person Diego should be willingly seeking out. Vanya got hurt by him because of that woman and Diego wants to just skip over that like it's nothing and go spend time in this woman's company?

"Then what's with that face?" He poked her cheek, he kind of liked the jealousy in her voice and the green smoke clouding her eyes, she was trying to hide it but was doing a very poor job of it.

"My face is perfectly normal, thank you very much. Now seriously I have to go, call me if you find Klaus and/or Five." She didn't think about her next move much beyond the fact that he was going to see his Ex, a woman he almost proposed to, a thought Vanya did not like. Why that thought drove her to step on her tip toes to bring Diego's head down to plant a firm wet kiss to his mouth, she's not sure, but she did it anyways, and she's not going to question it further or give it anymore thought. Before he could comment on it though she got in her car and drove off, looking at him through the rear-view mirror she enjoyed seeing the dopey smile that lit up his face.


Klaus's maniac laughter filled the room, he was strapped to a chair, still naked because the crazies were perverts as well as kidnappers apparently. They were trying to break him through torture, but their plan was failing fast, their confused faces were making his day. Klaus lived to surprise people, especially deranged people.

"You sound like a lunatic." Ben pointed out from his place on the dirty motel bed, God knows how many germs were hidden within the nasty sheets, he really shouldn't be sitting there but he was dead already so it wasn't like any germ could really do any damage to him.

"You get what you get when you want kidnap people well their trying to enjoy a relaxing bath." Klaus answered back, the two numb skulls looked even further bewildered at that. Klaus has not tried to hide his responses to Ben in front of them, maybe if they thought he was really insane they would let him go. The crazies were getting frustrated that they couldn't break him through their torture, Klaus was sure many other people fell to their feet at the mere thought of being tortured but he had some kinks so most of what they were doing was just causing him a hard on, the fact that he couldn't take care of it was more irritating and painful then their torturing.

"Luna's asking for you." Ben had left Klaus so he could try to tell one of their siblings what was happening, but like all of the other times that Ben tried to get their attention they walked through him and didn't hear him. But there was something different now, another person in the house that wasn't there before.

Ben wasn't 100% certain but he thinks his niece knows he's there, he was sure she couldn't see him because he stepped right in front of her and waved his arms around, she didn't react, but she asked if a "you guy's" wanted play with her, it was clear she wasn't talking to Vanya and Klaus when she asked that. She had put her Maui doll right in front of where he was seated next to Klaus on the floor in front of her, and even whispered "octopus" under her breath, him and Klaus heard her but not Vanya, which was probably for the best. Ben thought about the thing that lived inside of him, he supposed to a child's view the things that came out of his stomach resembled an octopus, truthfully Ben didn't know what they were, they could very well be just that, so she wasn't wrong per say in her whisper.

He wasn't sure how it was possible but the more he thought about it the more certain he was that his niece knew he was there, he was grateful for it, now maybe if he could get her attention, she could tell the rest of them what was happening to Klaus. Her and Vanya were hidden in the closet, Ben felt the odd sensation of going through someone without them noticing when he too got in the closet with them. The closet was too small to fit all of them though, so he was "inside" Vanya facing Luna.

"Luna, sweetheart can you hear me?" He reached his hand forward to drag his fingertips down her temple, watching her closely to see if she reacted at all to his touch, she didn't.

"I need your help Luna; Uncle Klaus needs your help." Ben told her praying to the heavens above that she could understand something, anything.

"Come on, please sweetheart, Uncle Klaus needs help, tell your mom." He begged her.

"Uncle Klaus." Luna whispered into Vanya's chest, her voice muddled from her position, but Ben could hear her just fine.

"Yeah! Yeah! Uncle Klaus needs help!" He was so excited that she could "hear" him that he shouted.

"Uncle Klaus." Luna kept whispering into the quiet closet.

"He's fine little bug, he's okay." Vanya finally answered, it was the exact opposite of what Ben wanted her to say.

"No, he isn't Vanya! Listen to her! Say it again Luna!" Ben persisted but it did nothing, Vanya kept shushing Luna every time she tried to say something.

Ben had altered between staying with Luna, insisting she keep repeating herself until someone took more notice and with Klaus well the crazies beat him bloody, the only help he could offer was to bring Klaus updates.

"Diego sent Allison to look for you."

"Luna's not going to stop asking for you Klaus, I promise."

"She's trying to tell them your hurt like I told her to but it's a bad connection or something."

"Diego's going be looking for you to Klaus, hang in there."

Ben could do nothing more than what he was doing, it made him feel helpless, to see his brother being hurt by those sickos and not be able to give them a taste of their own medicine.

"Can she see you?" The psychos gave him a much-needed break from their beatings, Klaus chose to spend that time trying to make sense of his niece's ability. He knew there was something unusual about her interactions and words when he played with her, but he didn't put forth much thought to it until now.

"I don't think so." Ben shook his head, it was impossible to miss if she could see him, she would make direct eye contact, her body would shift its position to counter his, she was a little girl so if she could see him, she would point it out, ask about him.

"She can hear you?" Klaus continued his questioning, Ben frowned because it wasn't like he knew what their niece could do or couldn't do, he was new to it as well, he didn't have instructions to how her ability worked. It was mostly field tested anyways, who knows what circumstances change it and if the people she interacted with change it as well.

"I don't think she can directly hear me," Ben answered him, he did have a theory though, "I don't think she can directly see me either, I think she just knows I'm there. Same with hearing I think she just knows what's being said, not everything gets transferred over though, it's like we have a bad signal or something but there's no doubt that she can communicate with me, not quite how you can but still."

"You think it's with all ghosts?" Klaus worried that like him the whispers would be too much for Luna, that eventually she would seek to quiet them, and she would end up with a fucked-up life like his. The thought of her having to turn to the means he turned to in order to lessen the voices made his heart contract. He doesn't ever want that for her, Luna's sweet little face needed to always stay that way, she shouldn't have to ever know the horrors of the world.

"I'm not sure, I don't think it's limited to ghosts though, before these crazies," Ben gestured to the other two people in the room that were giving Klaus a wide berth because he was talking to the bare space again, "showed up she kept telling Vanya that the "pops" were coming and she couldn't sleep, not two minutes later these guys start popping off their guns."

"She senses danger maybe?" Klaus guessed out loud, an odd power but useful if that's what it was.

Ben shrugged in response, he wished he had clear answers for them, but he was as clueless as Klaus was at this point.


A/N: Nancy Drew Ben and Inspector Gadget Klaus are on the case of Luna's abilities guys, there's no need to panic lol jk

Better be careful there Vanya, your green rage monster might just come prowling through like The Hulk lmfao

Hope you guys enjoyed, feel free to drop a review :)