A/N: Hope you guys enjoy :)
Chapter Fifteen: We're Not Doing a Drug Deal Luther!
Diego was staring at her, the prickle of his eyes on her was heavy. She wasn't purposely trying to ignore him or his gaze, but Vanya couldn't meet his eyes, literally, Klaus was blocking her view of him and anything else in the room. Her brother had the width of a broom stick most days, but Klaus's anguish seemed to add to his form making him appear larger than he normally would, or maybe Vanya was to petite in general, so his body was overly large in comparison to her own.
Either way, Klaus's fluffy brown hair is all she could see of the hospital room.
After Five wrestled the time travel briefcase from their brother's iron grip, Klaus had collapsed on Vanya in heart wrenching sobs. Thankfully, Luther moved him into Diego's room before they got escorted out of the hospital for causing too much of a disturbance in the hallway. The nurses had some serious mean mugs that Vanya would much rather never be on the receiving end of ever again, even the sweet nurse that escorted them had raised her hackles at them. Once inside Diego's room Klaus had immediately reattached himself to Vanya, she had barley sat down on the blue rigid couch the room offered before she had him clambering in her lap, his movements sharp but uncoordinated.
He had stopped crying a while ago, but his body still shook with uneven breaths, his grip on her was still strong as well. Luna was on the hospital bed with Diego, facing them but Vanya was sure unlike her father, her little bug's eyes were firmly on Klaus, the uncle that captured her heart with a Moana song. Vanya doesn't like that she's seeing Klaus this heartbroken, though she supposes that it's not anything new to Luna, her little girl had after all told them what to expect when Klaus came back.
"How do you think things are going for them?" Diego broke the silence that had filled the room, the only sounds coming from everyone's breaths and the hums from the machines connected to him. He loathed sitting out important missions, he should be there with his siblings, protecting them, instead he's here in a lumpy bed with wires attached at every angle without a clear view of Vanya. The silence in the room was stiff and irritating, it was making him more anxious to leave.
"I'm sure things are going fine." She softly replied back, not wanting to startle Klaus, Vanya had no doubt that Diego was close to pulling his hair out in frustration and inability to do anything. He's always hated sitting on the sidelines, Vanya is used to watching their siblings from the sidelines, desperately wanting to help and participate but unable to, that point of view wasn't anything new to her but Diego whenever he was punished with it growing up acted like it was a fate worse than death.
"Yeah, maybe." He didn't sound convinced, but Vanya was content so long as he didn't try to move and ruin all the good doctor's work. Klaus was generous enough to move out of her eye line when she answered back so now Vanya had a decent view of her daughter and Diego. It didn't surprise her to see Luna's eyes on her uncle Klaus, her little bug was lit up with concern and love for her uncle, her eyes lingered on the blood that caked Klaus, blood that was already dried up by the time Klaus had come back, Vanya hasn't had the nerve to ask him where it had come from.
"You okay Klaus?" Vanya bent over to whisper close to his ear, she didn't want to bring even more attention to him then he was already getting, it was so quiet though that she's positive the whisper echoed to other ears.
"He's gone." Klaus didn't bother to whisper back; it was a firm statement that left little to no room for question. Vanya wanted to comfort him, but she really had no experience in consoling anyone who just lost someone very important to them.
"I'm sorry." It was all she could think to say back, it wasn't an empty apology, she was sorrowful that her brother lost someone, but her apology rang without warmth. She doesn't know his pain, can't fathom it, from what she's gathered Dave was Klaus's Diego, and she had absolutely no idea what she would do if she lost Diego, she almost did less than 24 hours ago and she nearly fell apart, she couldn't imagine how Klaus was still coherent.
"He deserved better, he was good person, the best person." His words came with a whimper that he silenced with a hand pressed to his mouth. Vanya's own hand curled around his and pulled it away, he didn't have to keep his sounds in, she might not be the best person to comfort but she wasn't going to judge his pain. She held tight onto his hand, giving it squeezes ever so often to assure him she was there for him.
She wanted to ask questions about this mysterious Dave, learn more about him. Klaus clearly loved him very much, and though her little bug didn't know him in person she even seemed effected by his death. It doesn't feel right to Vanya to not ask about him, to not learn his story, but now didn't seem like the appropriate time to ask.
"I'm so sorry Klaus." She felt compelled to say again, he didn't answer her this time, just nodded, and closed his eyes, his body which was almost draped all the way over hers slumped with exhaustion.
Vanya watched as Luna hopped off of the hospital bed with Diego's help, her little one made her way over to them, without saying anything she pulled her uncle Klaus with all her little might to cuddle with her on the other end of the sofa. Klaus mustered enough energy to let a small smile grace his face for his niece who was currently trying to hug the sadness away. Vanya smiled at them, her eyes going misty when Klaus tightened his hold on Luna, very clearly trying to hold back tears.
A vibration coming from Vanya's coat pocket had her attention redirecting itself to her phone. It was Leonard, after talking with Allison and before Klaus had time to wrap her up again when he was deposited onto the couch, she sent a quick text to him to reschedule dinner for breakfast.
Looking forward to our date ;)
There's been plenty of times in Vanya's life where she's felt misplaced, uncomfortable, and awkward, but never has she felt it more than in this moment reading Leonard's text message to her. Growing up in the Umbrella Academy didn't leave room for dating, girlfriends, or boyfriends for any of them, least of all Vanya. She doesn't have much experience in that department, really no experience beyond Diego if she was being truthful with herself. She's always been terrified of rejection, before Luna her worse fear was to be told she wasn't good enough by anyone in her life. So, to conserve her feelings Vanya has never experienced anything within that subject, certainly not how to tell someone she agreed to go on a date with that she wanted to be no more than friends with them.
"Is that Allison?" Diego leaned forward on his bed as if he would be able to peek over her shoulder. His eyes were eagerly focused on the cellphone, waiting to be told any kind of news from their siblings who had left to make a deal with the creepy psychos.
"No, it's Leonard." She answered back, she didn't want to lie to him. If things go decently well from here on out with Diego, then she doesn't want to look back only to realize she started off their relationship with lies about another man, that wouldn't be fair to herself or to him.
"You went to him when you left the manor." It wasn't a question, rather a statement, his tone took a 360 turn, it was hard with anger peeking through and if Vanya was not mistaken, jealously was also making a home in Diego' voice. The quick turn of the subject was unexpected as well.
"Yeah, I wanted to talk to someone, and he was really kind before, so I thought it was a good idea." Which wasn't a lie, Leonard listened to her when she had gone to him, he let her vent without judgment or critique, she felt heard, often times with siblings like her own, her ordinary voice gets lost within the mix of the extraordinary.
"He was at your house well you were gone, the babysitter let him in." Vanya didn't have to ask if Diego let his opinion be known to Leonard and Lizzy, she knows for a fact that he did, Diego hasn't ever had any qualms on expressing his thoughts, especially when he's angry. This is also something she doesn't need him telling her, she knows it already, and she plans on telling both of them something about it. Normally Vanya isn't a confrontational person, but this concerns her daughter, the most important person in her life, she's not taking any chances when it comes to her safety.
"I'm going to talk to him about that, Lizzy to." It was uncomfortable talking about something serious from across the room, so she got up to move closer to the bed, glancing quickly to Luna and Klaus, both of them had fallen asleep cuddled together.
"Talk to him? As in you're going to see him again?" Diego bit his lower lip to stop himself from saying anything more. He had to remind himself that he couldn't and wouldn't try to control Vanya's emotions and actions, she's a grown woman, he needs to respect her choices, even if he didn't agree with them, even if they made him angry and jealous to a point that he wanted to tie her to him to make sure she didn't leave his sight.
"I was going to ask if it's okay that Luna and Klaus stay here well, I go meet up with him really quick?" She lowered her voice in hopes that he would be more agreeable with her whisper.
She couldn't reschedule with Leonard and have him thinking she's rescheduling a date; she's already done that with asking to meet for breakfast and not dinner. Vanya just wants to go see him, say what she needs to say, and come back to the hospital to support Diego. She doesn't want Leonard looming over her head, not now or 2 hours from now or tomorrow. Right now, that Diego is agreeing to stay in bed, and someone is here with him to help with Luna and their other siblings are off preventing world catastrophe seems like the best moment she's going to get within the next couple of days, so she wants to take full advantage.
"Are you seriously going to go on a date while I'm in the hospital? Are you going to let him "comfort" you some more?" He snapped at her, he was putting all his effort into trying to control his words but the thought of Vanya with another man and what they could be doing that constitutes as "comforting" has Diego's normally brown eyes turning green.
Vanya was used to Diego's short temper, it's been that way since they were kids but the level of venom spitting from his mouth stunned and upset her, she also didn't appreciate the insinuation that he made of Leonard "comforting" her.
"It's not a date, I'm going to go tell him that I can't date him, better to get it over with now then get the guy's hopes up for something that's never going to happen, and to also tell him to not show up at my house again uninvited, especially when I'm not there." Vanya unintentionally snapped back, like a popped balloon, Diego's anger deflates. Vanya thought better of also mentioning the creepy roses to him right now, he was already emotionally raw, no need to keep sparking that flame at the moment, getting them both riled up.
"You agreed to go on a date with him?" The way she worded her sentence clued him into the fact that she had agreed at some point that Leonard was suitable to date, people don't date other people they don't like or get along with, Vanya had at one point clearly seen potential in a relationship between herself and Leonard.
"In a moment of weakness and thoughtlessness, yes, I did. But that's why I want to go talk to him, I don't want to be with HIM Diego, but I'm not so cruel that I'm willing to drag him along for any more time knowing full well that I have no intention of being anything but a friend to him." She reached over the bed handles to grab his hands in hers, like with Klaus she squeezed them, putting in a little bit more force in the squeeze then she had with Klaus, she doesn't think she could have spelt it out any more clearly that she doesn't want Leonard, she wants him.
"Alright, yeah-" he wasn't comfortable with her leaving, he didn't trust Leonard, something in his gut was telling him there was something off about him but Vanya did have a point, they couldn't move forward with some lovesick fool trailing after her," we're good here, just hurry back, please."
"I will." She let go of one of his hands in order to comb her fingers through his hair, gripping the back of his head she pulled him forward to connect their lips, Diego took a second to respond but soon his mouth moved in sync with hers, he pulled her closer to his body, as close as he could get her with the rail in the way, his hands moved to clutch her thin waist, he ignored the protest in his side from the awkward position, he wanted her closer, he needed her closer to him.
"Shit, that was beautiful guys, that was some serious adulting right there." Vanya pulled back giggling at Klaus's remark, not as asleep as she thought he was, Diego chooses to flip him the bird for interrupting the moment. Klaus was smiling at them when she turned back to look at him, not his usual big grin but rather a small curve to his lips, she's happy she got to see it before she left, it makes her feel better about leaving him with Luna and Diego.
"My legs are cramping." Allison complained from the back seat of the clown car. When they had left the hospital with the briefcase in hand Five's brilliant plan included high jacking a car to get them to the meeting point with the creeps that kidnapped Klaus.
Both Five and Luther had hitched a ride to the hospital with the cop lady and the only other car they had was Vanya's, but Allison didn't want her car getting damaged so stealing one was the way to go. She had no problem stealing a car to use for their convenience, her problem was the fact that they had a large selection to choose from and Tweedledee (AKA Luther) thought the clown car looked like the best option, and Tweedledum (AKA Five) was quick to agree with him. Allison thought a SUV would better suit their needs and their size, but she was outvoted for the clown car.
She was squished into a tiny space in the backseat, her chin was upturned in displeasure, looking at them she's glad to see agonizing looks on both their faces, they were even more cramped than she was, the front seat offered even less space than the backseat did. Add the fact that Luther was just a tad smaller than the stupid car and you had them all looking absolutely ridiculous. Seeing them more uncomfortable than she was did make Allison feel better, it's karma for not wanting to listen to her to choose something bigger, she wasn't going to stop complaining though, adding salt to the wound was her specialty.
"Yes, we're well aware Allison." Five grumbled, scowl firmly in place, Allison hadn't shut up for two minutes in the entire car ride to the meeting point, Five is thanking his lucky stars right now that their almost there, any longer and he'd have one less sister.
"I thought a smaller car would look less suspicious." Luther explained himself for millionth time, another apology was on the tip of his tongue, but he silenced it when the other car became visible on the empty road.
"Less suspicious? We're not doing a drug deal Luther!" Allison exclaimed with hands drawn into the air, they both hit the top of the roof of the tiny car, she felt like a giant Amazonian woman that stepped on puny men for fun in this vehicle, under normal circumstances she actually wouldn't mind feeling that way but the pain in her legs was taking up most of her thought process and patience.
"Shut up you two, show's about to start." Five waved his hand at them in dismissal, Luther had parked the car on the opposite side of the road with some distance between them and the crazy people, it wasn't much distance, but it still made him feel better seeing some space separating them. They all three watched as the man and the woman exited their car, on their heads were the creepy kid masks, the pink rabbit one in particular looked like it went through the ringer a few times, it was falling apart at the seams.
"Ridiculous." Five muttered under his breath before signal nodding to his siblings, they exited the car. Allison and Luther stayed back with the briefcase in hand as Five told them to on the way over, Five however walked to meet up with both crazies in the middle of the road, his closeness to them made Luther's fingers twitch, he didn't like Five out of reach.
"Are the masks really necessary at this point?" He taunted them with his trademark smirk, it increased in size when they reached up and ripped the masks off their heads with irritation, tossing them to the side like day old trash.
"Where's the briefcase kid?" Cha Cha replied back, her voice suggesting that she was done with a meeting that hadn't even begun yet.
"You do realize that I can just turn right back around and leave, right?" Five raised his eyebrow at her, he didn't like the snappy attitude, these guys were imbeciles compared to himself, no room to talk like they had the upper hand, "I imagine your pea sized brain can understand that I have something you want, you have something I want, so how about we play nice and try to find a way to help each other out."
"Pea sized bra-" Cha Cha pulled her gun free from the band of her pants, her partner cut her off, both in her words and in her aim.
"Alright, alright, we can be cool, there's no need for insults and remarks. Now, how are we going to help each other out?" Hazel tilted his head at Five, his arm was positioned outward towards Cha Cha's gun, preventing it from being in direct line with the boy, there was no sense in angering the kid further.
"I need you to contact your superior, The Handler, in exchange my brother will hand over your briefcase." Five pointed over to Luther, who was watching the interaction with squinted eyes and twitching fingers, Allison right next to him glaring at Cha Cha.
"What do you want with The Handler?" Cha Cha questioned, curiosity seeping through.
"I don't believe that's any of your business." He said back with another smirk.
"Fair enough. We'll contact her, just don't mention the briefcase." Hazel told him; his eyes kept flicking back to the siblings who watched them like hawks. Cha Cha walked behind the car to make the call. Before meeting here, she had looked the Hargreeves siblings up to see what she could figure out about them. What they found out was that this was no ordinary case, they never encountered super powered people before, The Commission sent them in with no background on what to expect, just another thing the company was lacking in, and Cha Cha wondered why Hazel complained about them so much.
The big guy, Luther, if Hazel remembered his name right had super strength, nearly indestructible, a chandelier was dropped on the guy and he still got back up without a problem. The woman next to him, Allison, she could rumor people into believing anything she said, a useful power if you asked Hazel. The man Cha Cha shot, Diego, could curve anything he threw, his favorite thing to throw being knives. Klaus, the maniac who talked to himself well they tried to extract information from him could apparently conjure the dead and speak to them, which explained his odd behavior. Five, who was a legend in The Commission he knew could time and space jump. A deceased member of their family, Ben, was the last powered individual, he apparently had some freaky creature use his stomach as a portal to attack those around him, Hazel is glad that will not be something he has to face.
Then of course the last of the siblings, the only normal one in the bunch, Vanya, who had no powers and was bitter about it. That book Cha Cha picked up was an in-depth description on each and every one of them. That little book had everything they needed to know about the Hargreeves, Cha Cha didn't even have to search that much to hit the pot of gold filled with information. As far as Hazel could tell the only one not mentioned in the book was the child that he and Cha Cha briefly saw when they shot up The Academy, he assumes the normal one, Vanya, had her after the book came out.
"Not overly trusting, are they?" Hazel questioned with a head nod to Five's siblings who took a few measured steps forward when Cha Cha had moved to make the call to The Handler.
"Can you blame them? You attacked our home, shot our brother, tortured our other brother, and scared the living shit out of our niece and sister." Five sassed, these idiots didn't need to know how much pain they've actually caused so Five tried to sound casual and uncaring of the events that have transpired, it was difficult, and he doesn't believe he succeeded in doing that.
"How are your brothers doing by the way?" Hazel asked with teasing eyes, he kind of enjoyed watching the legend, the myth, struggle to contain his emotions.
Five didn't answer him, he knew if he stayed there to make more comments then it wouldn't end pretty for him or them, so he turned on his heel and walked back to Luther and Allison.
"Is she coming?" Allison asked, she was uncomfortable here, she felt like she was waiting for the other shoe to drop, everyone is playing nice but for how long? She'd much rather still be with Vanya at the hospital, but her family was notorious for jumping headfirst into bad decisions, so she needed to be here to make sure Luther and Five didn't screw things up for themselves and by extension the world.
"Yeah, she'll come." Five told them, he had no doubt in his mind that The Handler would show up, she's a curious being by nature and manipulator by spirit, there's no way she would refuse to come see him. Expecting an answer back from his siblings but not hearing one, Five turned his eyes to see what made them go so quiet.
Allison stood frozen with her mouth half open, white teeth visible, her hand was wrapped around a piece of her curly golden-brown hair, a nervous tick that she's had since they were children. Luther was frozen too, his mouth pursed in a straight line, eyes angrily staring at Hazel and Cha Cha, who were also stiffened, unmoving.
"Well now isn't this a cozy get-together." A raspy voice echoed around the frozen atmosphere. Taking his attention away from his siblings, Five shifted his eyes over to The Handler, who seemingly popped out of nowhere, smiling and glancing around in childlike wonder like they were at a fucking fair or something. It irritated him how detached she always was from situations, how nonchalant she walked and talked, as if everything was a game in life and she was one step away from winning.
A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed, feel free to drop a review :)
***ANSWERS TO REVIEWS***
To Genbo: Leonard needs to get to stepping, he is both creepy and unwanted lol. I really just love Diego and Vanya together, it brings my heart joy jk, I look forward to writing more :) thank you so much for your review.
To JjdoggieS: It's always amazing to me when I read that someone has re-read my story over and over again lol it makes me really happy that I have readers out there that enjoy the story that much. Thank you for your kind compliment on my writing as well as your awesome review :)
To Guest 1: Thank you so much :) Diego would be the perfect father and no one can tell me differently lol I'm so glad your enjoying the interactions between this Father/Daughter duo.
To Guest 2: I'm happy your liking the story so far, thank you for your review :)
To Guest 3: Thank you so much for your review :) I'm glad you enjoyed reading what I've written for this story so far.
To SamoanQueen4: I'm glad your enjoying the story, it never fails to bring a big goofy smile to my face when a reader mentions having read my story more then once, it makes me so happy lol. And yes there will be more, this story is by no means abandoned, I know I'm taking forever to write it but I still have that determination to see it through, now I can't make promises on the next update but I can promise that no thoughts of abandoning the story have went through my head (and I hope those thoughts never go through my head in the future), even in the year long hiatus that the story was on. Thank you for leaving a review :)
To FastFan: Lol thank you for your enthusiastic review expressing your excitement for an update on my story, I'm happy to know you liked the story enough to want to read another chapter :)
To GremlinsWritings: I'm glad you loved the story, there will be more, I can't make any promises for when the next update will be but I do plan to continue this story :) thank you so much for leaving a review, it's much appreciated.
To FastFan: Awe, thank you, I love how excited you are for another update lol. I feel bad but I can't make any promises for when that next update will be. Right now I'm working on editing "Mended". I've done this when the story hit 5 chapters, 10 chapters, and now that it's at 15 chapters, I feel like I have to pay my respects to the 5 chapter milestone its hit jk and go through the story to edit my mistakes. I do have the next chapter written (chapter 16) but it's in its rough draft form/stage and will not be edited until I'm done writing the next chapter (Chapter 17) and I finish editing what I posted thus far. I'm sorry :( but with any luck I'll be able to get the next chapter out within the next few weeks, thank you so much for your support and excitement for this story as well as your review :)
To Guest 4: You're right, Vanya and Diego aren't a popular pairing and that makes me sad because I really want them to be lol. I don't get why the writers for The Umbrella Academy basically gave their love interest story line in the comics to Allison and Luther in the show. I feel like if they were going to have a love story that involved any of them with each other then they should have just kept the original one from the comics and just changed it up a bit to meet the shows expectations. I'm so happy you enjoyed my story, thank you for your review :)
To Guest 5: I'm very happy to read that you liked the story :) I know I haven't updated in a while and yes I am still writing (just not for any stories I have posted so far, but new ones that I haven't posted) but I haven't forgotten about this story, believe me it's always in the back of my mind lol. Quite honestly, I'm waiting for some inspiration to hit me for this story, so hopefully that comes soon, thank you so much for leaving a review, it's much appreciated.
To FastFan: I am so sorry it took me so long to answer back, I've been up to my neck in work and school lol which is also why this story took another blow with the updates. I'm so happy to have a dedicated fan to this story though, it makes the struggle of writing it worth it. Thank you so much for your review, Chapter 16 is posted, I hope you enjoy reading it :)
