A/N: Hope you guys enjoy :)
Chapter Nine: Octopus Here
Diego was waiting outside of Eudora's townhouse, she was supposed to be leaving for work pretty soon, he wanted to catch her before she left. His lips were still tingling from Vanya's kiss, he was trying to ignore the impulse to press his fingers to them. He was seated on the steps that led to Eudora's porch, the door behind him opened and closed, the lock clicked into place, her footsteps halted, he heard her intake of breath at finally catching sight of him.
"What the hell Diego, are you trying to give me a heart attack?" She pressed her hand over her heart for dramatic effect. She walked down the steps to stand in front of him, she tried not to make it obvious that she was scanning his body, his muscles always did look good encased in leather, they might not have been together anymore but that didn't mean Eudora couldn't look and appreciate the view he provided.
"I need to talk to you." He didn't miss the way her eyes lingered on his arms, but he didn't mention it, he wasn't in the mood to lightly chit chat with her, in fact he wanted to just get what he came for and leave. He held nothing against her anymore, having forgave her for breaking his heart long ago, but that didn't mean their interactions with each other were comfortable.
"Two people broke into the manor last night and shot up the place. They had on some creepy kid masks; do you know anything about that?" He questioned her; she couldn't lie to him even if she wanted to because the non-surprise at the description of them in her eyes said it all.
"Yeah, I'm looking for them, they did the same thing to a clothing store, pretty sure a doughnut shop too, they killed a guy. This case is all over the place and all the evidence makes zero sense. There was hope when we thought the guy they killed had a son but I just got new information this morning that he had no children so this kid is our only witness and he's nowhere to be found." Eudora couldn't stop the small rant she went on, the entire case was proving to be more difficult and stubborn then she anticipated, nothing in it was adding up or making sense, at least not to her.
"I'm surprised your barley jumping on this right now, I figured I would have already had a few arguments with you about needing to step out of the way so the real detectives can do their jobs." It wouldn't be the first time that Diego involved himself in a case. Eudora's just shocked that it took this long, the police scanners she knows he listens to have been going haywire. Normally he would jump into the case without looking to see where he's landing, also without permission to be involved in it to begin with. She has to wonder if he would have even involved himself now if those criminals hadn't gone to his family's manor.
"You need to look harder for them." Diego ordered, she seemed so clueless on her next step, Diego could clearly see the lack of faith she had concerning the case. It was right there on her face, she was trying to hide it but Diego knows her, she could try to hide her real emotions all she wants but it wasn't going to prevent him from seeing them, he could read her like a book, the time between them did nothing to deteriorate that fact.
"I'm trying to Diego, but you have to-" He interrupted her condescending tone that she often used when she thought he was being childish about something, he couldn't stand that tone.
"No, you need to look harder for them because they came into MY house with MY daughter there and she could have gotten hurt or worst killed, so you need to do your fucking job better then you have been." He snapped at her, anger filling his eyes. He wasn't planning to spill the beans that he had a kid now, but it just slipped out when she tried to make it seem like it was no big deal that the manor was broken into and shot up.
"Your daughter? You have a child?" She asked flabbergasted, Eudora couldn't picture him with a kid, she tried to bring the image of him with a baby up in her mind, but nothing greeted her. She used to be able to, in her fantasies she would see a baby wrapped in a blanket in her arms with Diego stroking the little baby's forehead, she used to be able to see that so easily when they were together. She often dreamed of having that perfect family with him, at one point she was even close to talking to him about it, to see where his thoughts on them starting a family were, she herself couldn't wait for that dream to become a reality. But now she couldn't picture him having a baby, a wife, and a home, she didn't even know he was seeing anybody.
"Yeah, her name's Luna, she's two years old. Eudora this hit home for me, quite literally, those people came for my brother and he's been missing since yesterday, another brother that my daughter can't seem to stop asking about is also missing, so I need you guys to do your jobs so I can be able to relax and assure my daughter that everything's going be okay." He hated that his voice wavered well he was speaking, he didn't want Eudora knowing just how much this was affecting him, how useless he felt in this situation.
"I'm doing my best Diego." She didn't want to admit out loud that her best hasn't been good enough though.
"But I'll try harder, just don't involve yourself please because you're just going to make things harder for me." She knows him, even if he hadn't gotten involved as of yet these criminals threatened his family, he's not going to be able to let that personal offence go.
"I can't make any promises," he stood up from the steps, "I have a couple of brothers that need to be found, I'll talk to you later." He gave her a nod and walked away from her, the burning of her gaze on him was searing into his back but he refused to turn around.
The first thing Diego did was go to every known sketchy place that Klaus had ever gotten dropped off at, or at least the ones Diego could remember. He asked every crack head he came across if they had seen him or heard from him, all he was able to get back in return was begs for money and shakes of heads.
Once that proved to be a failure, he walked through alleyways to see if his brother was passed out in one of them, the smell from one particular dumpster made him gag when he decided to look inside of it just in case. After that failed to provide him with any sign of his brother, he figured there was no harm in looking into rehab centers. Klaus often got random bouts of wanting to get clean, he would check himself into local rehabs with no order or pattern, but that as well just turned up empty.
He was running out of places to look, he couldn't think where else Klaus would disappear to, couldn't think of where his brother would run to in a moment of panic, where his thoughts would go, where he would feel safest.
Diego had overheard him telling Vanya he was going to take a bath; he had seen Klaus walking from Vanya's old room to the bathroom with a towel before he himself walked into the room to see Luna giving Vanya a hard time about going to sleep. Diego's been thinking this whole time that Klaus heard the shots from the guns and hurried to dress himself to leave in order to protect himself, but like all of them (except Vanya) Klaus was trained for that exact situation. He was trained to stay, fight, and protect those that couldn't protect themselves in situations that proved to be a danger, he wouldn't have just taken off without making sure they were safe, especially not before making sure Luna was safe.
Diego could admit that he was kind of jealous how easily Luna and Klaus had gotten along, he knew he had no reason to be, all things considered Luna did like him, she had sought out comfort from him so he would say this whole dad thing is getting off to a better track then what his own relationship with his father had gotten off to. For one thing he didn't purchase Luna from somebody who was scared out of their minds after just having a baby under mysterious circumstances.
Klaus had easily bonded with Luna, would he have really taken off without making sure she was okay, without making sure those crazy people didn't hurt her...no he wouldn't have, Diego was sure of that. So that meant he was taken by those psychos, they probably wanted him for information on where Five was, Diego shuttered to think how they would go about extracting that information from Klaus, he had to find him.
He wasted all this time looking for Klaus in all the wrong places, now that he knew WHO took him it still didn't give him insight as to WHERE they took him to. Uncle Klaus Luna's soft voice came to mind Uncle Klaus hurt…was she trying to tell them that Klaus had been taken, that he was being hurt? How could she possibly know that? The pops are coming her little voice was stuck in his head repeating the things she had said that he and Vanya had ignored thinking it was just gibberish The pops mamma! The pops! She had said that right before he walked out of the room and the guns started going off.
Pulling out his phone he tried calling Vanya, but her phone went straight to voicemail, he tried again and again but with no new results. He let out a groan when the phone's operator picked up again for the fifth time telling him to leave a voicemail, this time he let it go to the beep instead of hanging up, "Vanya listen, I'm going to go to your house to talk to Luna...I don't got a lot of information right now but I think she can tell me where Klaus is at, I think those crazy people took him. Call me back as soon as you get this...I love you."
Telling her their daughter had powers over the phone did not seem like the best thing to do but he couldn't keep all the information from her, information that he wasn't even sure he himself knew yet. Most of what he's going on is pure theory alone, but Luna was really his only hope of figuring out where Klaus is, without her he wouldn't even be looking for him to begin with. He would be looking for Five, he still wants to but he's sure Luther has that covered, he would be looking for the brother that is least likely to go missing at a time like this and that's Five not Klaus.
He broke so many traffic laws in his hurry to get to Vanya's house, his eyes were half on the road and half on the phone that he was hoping would signal with a call coming in from Vanya. She's at rehearsals but damn if there was a time to lack in it and check the stupid phone now would be it Vanya! She told him to call her if he found Klaus only for her not to answer, not that he's found their brother yet but still.
Slamming the car door shut when he finally got to Vanya's house Diego jogged up to the door, he didn't wait a second before pounding his fist against the wood. A moment later a young blonde girl with an overabundance of freckles on her nose and cheeks, who looked fresh out of high school answered the door, a sneer on her face firmly aimed his way.
"Can I help you?" She sarcastically asked him, she looked behind him and over him in disinterest, like he was an annoyance she couldn't wait to get rid of, which made his face twitch.
"I'm Diego, Luna's father, can I come in for a second to talk to her...please." He hated having to ask permission to talk to his own daughter, but he supposed that for right now it is what it is, but he would be having a conversation with Vanya about talking to whoever they needed to that he was allowed any day and anytime to see his daughter.
"Luna's father?" The girl lightly laughed at him in disbelief, "Yeah I don't know who you think your fooling buddy, but Luna doesn't have a dad in her life." The plain distrust she had in her voice was very clear on her rounded face as well.
Diego was going to snap at her but movement behind the young girl caught his attention. Leonard, Vanya's student that Diego had met briefly was standing there smiling wide at him, like he had every right to be in the house and Diego was better suited outside of it. Diego's not going to pretend to know much about Vanya teaching lessons in instruments and music but he's fairly certain that she can't teach when she's not here so why was this guy here right now? Looking smug as fuck to top it all off.
"What are you doing here?" Diego demanded; he ignored the shout from the babysitter when he stepped past her to walk into the house to stand in front of Leonard.
"I came to bring Vanya's pill bottle back, she dropped it on the floor this morning at my place, I know she's at rehearsal, so I thought I'd just stop by really quick and drop it off with Luna's babysitter. Lizzy was kind enough to invite me in." His smooth answer would have fooled Diego into believing the fishy story but the glint in his eyes was settling uncomfortably in Diego's stomach. Something about the guy set alarm bells off in Diego's gut.
"I'm calling the police!" The babysitter wildly shouted at him, her shaky hands were trying to unlock the no doubt complicated password she had set on her phone, she reminded Diego of a bad horror film, right about now would be the scene where she got killed.
"Don't bother, I am the police." Diego reached into his pocket to pull out the fake badge that he flashed to her, like so many others before her at the sight of it she immediately relaxed and calmed herself down, so sure she wasn't in any danger from him because of a piece of metal.
"Your place? She was at your place this morning?" Diego went back to questioning the creep now that the babysitter wasn't doing her best impersonation of the stupid chick in every scary movie ever made.
"And last night, something upset her, when she came to me, I offered whatever comfort I could." The smirk with his words made Diego want to reach up with his fist to punch him square in the face, he had been under the impression that Vanya went home, come to learn she sought out another man's attention, what did that mean?
"Regardless I don't think it's appropriate for you to be showing up at her house unannounced with only our daughter and her babysitter here," Diego growled before he turned to the babysitter, "and you shouldn't be letting in random people just because they seem nice, looks can be deceiving." He knows he was being a hypocrite because he expected her to let him right in but it was the principle of the matter, the girl at least looked properly chastised.
"Of course, won't happen again." Leonard seemed like the type of guy who knew exactly how to get out of any sticky situation with his words alone, the glint and the smirk were giving away the fake sincerity of his voice though. He nodded to Diego and the babysitter before leaving, Diego resisted the urge to follow him, having to remind himself that he didn't come here to start problems. Watching the guy through the open front door Diego waited until he was sure he was completely gone before addressing the young girl.
"I need to talk to my daughter, you're more than welcome to call Vanya to ask her all the questions you want but well you do that I'm going to be talking to Luna." He didn't wait long enough for a response, Luna wasn't in the living room which meant that she was in her bedroom so that's where Diego went, the babysitter protesting right behind him well also clicking away at her phone, Diego ignored her.
Getting to Luna's room and walking inside, he almost tripped on a Barbie doll, looking at the floor he winced at the mess of toys that were scattered on it. The whole thing would take a pretty minute to clean up, in the middle of all the mess was his little girl playing with a chicken figurine that resembled the one from the princess movie he had watched with her when she had her nightmare.
"Mister Diego!" She jumped up from the floor to run into his arms, looking excited to see him, it sent flutters through his heart, in such a short time she was already getting attached to him and he couldn't lie and say he didn't love it.
"Hey sweetheart, I need to talk to you." Diego walked them over to her green princess bed, he carefully sat down with her in his lap, fully aware that it was a toddler bed he was placing his entire weight on. He could vaguely hear the babysitter talking on the phone to Vanya who seemed to have finally answered her phone, he didn't pay much attention to the words being said though.
"About what?" She looked up at him through her long lashes and for the first time since he met Luna Diego could see Vanya in her, it was no secret that she mostly took after him in the looks department, but he's been looking for the little hints of Vanya in her and he seems to have found one at a most inconvenient time.
"About your Uncle Klaus. You were asking for him remember?" He gently asked her, he didn't have a lot of experience with kids but the few that he has talked to in the past has made him come to the conclusion that they're more susceptible to give answers when prompted with reminders and encouragement.
"Yeah, Uncle Klaus hurt." Diego couldn't see how he wasn't piecing it together before, it was fairly obvious that Luna was trying to convey something to them now that he knows but at the time he had written it off as child gibberish.
"Yeah, I know sweetheart, and I'm going to find him, but I need your help with that, okay?" At her nod Diego continued.
"I need you to tell me if you know where Uncle Klaus is...can you do that for me?" She looked hesitant to answer, her eyes kept flickering to the foot of the bed to.
"Octopus here." Diego wasn't sure what that meant, maybe thinking Luna had a power and could tell him where Klaus is was wishful thinking on his part.
"Motel...Luna...car." She said the words individually with a slight strain to her face. The excitement that she could possibly give him Klaus's location was back. Motel okay so he was in a motel that narrows it down some but not enough, there's a lot of motels in the city. Luna What did her name have to do with it? Car Cars driving by maybe? Lots of engine noise? A motel by a highway? Luna was a name, so maybe that's the name of the motel?
"Is that the name baby girl? The name of the motel is the same as yours?" When she nodded her head against his chest where she had tucked herself into, he hurried to pull out his phone, he clicked the name into the internet to see what search results came up LUNA MOTOR LODGE MOTEL was the first search result claiming it was 5 miles away and had open rooms.
"Luna Motor Lodge Motel, is that it? Is that where Uncle Klaus is Luna?" He asked her, again she nodded, relief spread through his body, of course he's not sure if Klaus is actually there or not but what were the chances that she was wrong, there was no harm in looking and seeing in any case.
"Good girl, you did very good baby girl. I'm going to go get Uncle Klaus now okay?" He shifted her in his arms to stand up with her in them before walking to the living room where the babysitter was picking up toys from the floor (Jesus Lord how many toys does Luna own?), her frazzled look from earlier gone.
"Miss Vanya asked me to tell you to call her after you were done talking to Luna." The silent apology of not believing that he was Luna's dad was on her face.
"Thanks," he acknowledged with a head nod before turning his attention back to his daughter, "I got to go Luna, but I'll be back later." He kissed her forehead before setting her on the couch with the chicken toy and running out of the house to his car to hopefully find Klaus.
A/N: Luna's Uncles aren't the only smart cookies around lol
Leonard legit gives me the Heeby Jeebies, he's so creepy.
Hope you guys enjoyed, feel free to drop a review :)
