A/N: Hope you guys enjoy :)
Chapter Seventeen: More Like Captain-Underpants
Vanya impatiently tapped her foot on the tile floor of the elevator to the hospital, she was going six floors up which wasn't too much considering the massive size of the hospital, but the elevator was packed to its capacity and yet still stopped on every floor to let more people in and drop others off.
The other occupants of the tight metal box were giving her varying looks of distaste, pointedly shifting their eyes to her dancing foot when she glanced at any of them. The least the hospital could offer was crappy elevator music to go with being packed like sardines, but no what they all had to fill their ears was loud breathing from a heavy-set man with grey hairs coming out of his ears, a pager going off to a beautiful nurse with braids in her hair, Vanya's tapping foot, and the irritated sighs of most people being equally as annoyed as herself.
Finally, after what felt like years of waiting, the elevator dinged to announce its arrival to the sixth floor, she bumped into the heavy-set man in her rush to get air that wasn't being shared in a confined space with so many other people. Vanya didn't have a chance to offer an apology before the double doors were closing on her, moving on to their next destination. She takes slow even steps to Diego's room, even from out in the hallway she can hear Luther's booming voice telling Klaus to stop joking around and Klaus's cackles of laughter, clearly enjoying being the one that was making Luther upset. She's nervous to walk into the room, unsure what she should say if anyone asked how her meeting with Leonard went, she's still unclear as to what happened and why.
It was like he changed into a completely different person in a split second, his brown eyes went from friendly and calm to crazy and frantic, the smile was lost and replaced with harsh lines and confusion, not understanding "how things could go so wrong".
Vanya had thought she got a decent read on Leonard and who he was as a person, she thought he was kind, sweet, and thoughtful, she's never been more wrong in her life. And to think that's the man that was alone with her babysitter and daughter, she would have to tell Lizzy to immediately call the police if he ever showed back up to her house again without herself or Diego present.
Walking into Diego's hospital room, all movement inside went still upon seeing her, she self-consciously tugs down her shirt as she awkwardly bounces from one foot to the next. She hopes her siblings can't see the mini freak out she had over Leonard's behavior in her eyes. Diego is still on his bed, blankets wrapped around him and food untouched next to him on a tray, Luna was once again tucked into his side, cuddling into him, her HeiHei doll squished between them.
Luther was up, standing by the sink washing what looked like colored market off his face, Allison was sitting on the couch with Klaus's feet laying across her lap, he looked better than he did before she left, the sadness was still ingrained into his figure, but she could tell he's not as shell shocked as he was.
"Hey little bug, were you good well I was gone?" Vanya is the one to break the silence, she closes the door behind herself and walks to sit at the edge of Diego's bed, once her butt touches the mattress everyone unfreezes and goes back to what they were doing before she walked in.
Luna nods her head but doesn't verbally respond to her.
"She was an angel." Diego smiles down at their daughter, she had woken up from her nap just 30 minutes before Vanya arrived back and had since laid in silence with him, content to watch the cartoon that was playing on the TV and hug her doll.
"She can be when she wants, but don't let that sweet face fool you, she has been known to throw the worst tantrums in the history of tantrums." Vanya tells him with a small smile, she wonders if she'll get used to seeing them together like this, she hopes she doesn't, the pitter patter beat of her heart making its way to the melting zone is how she always wants to feel when she catches these sweet moments between them.
Klaus makes a disgusted sound from the back of his throat, "Please stop with the sugary cuteness, I'm going to die by sweet tooth over here if I have to watch you guys for another moment." Allison pinches his big toe for that comment, she thinks it's adorable that Diego and Vanya are treading the fields of flirtation very lightly, trying to find their footing.
"Shut up." She hisses at him under her breath, to which he childishly sticks his tongue out to her in response.
"Klaus is right though, enough playing games, we need to talk about what we're going to do." Leave it to Luther to ruin a perfectly good moment of family bonding. He wanted to be able to relax and joke around like them, but they don't have time for that, they needed a plan and they needed one now, no time to waste, they could joke after they save the world.
"Are you okay?" Diego asked Vanya, ignoring Luther who starts complaining about what feels like the millionth time that they should have told him sooner about the world ending, he can't seem to let it go. Instead of giving him the same explanation that he's been giving Luther over and over again Diego focuses on Vanya who seemed shaken up about something, he could tell she's trying hard to avoid talking about what could only be her meeting with Leonard considering she just got back and hasn't been anywhere else, the fact that she's so clearly avoiding it makes him all the more curious.
"Yeah, it didn't go exactly how I expected it to," and that's putting it mildly, Vanya thinks to herself "You don't have anything to worry about though, I'm not going to be talking to him again, he didn't take me wanting to just be friends with him lightly." It's partially the truth, not the full truth but Vanya knows if she tells Diego everything then he's going to want to track Leonard down, which is not something Vanya thinks needs to happen. She's okay knowing that she's not around Leonard anymore, she has no plans to ever be around him and his insane muttering again, there's no need for Diego to go into overprotective mode.
"Did he hurt you?" The question is asked calmly, too calmly, Vanya can see the rage in Diego's brown eyes slowly clouding them over.
"No, no, he didn't hurt me." Vanya assures him, she leaves out that Leonard probably would have hurt her had those men not intervened, Diego doesn't need to know that much. He nods back at her in understanding, but his eyes still hold that quiet rage as they run over her, checking for themselves if she's telling the truth, trying to find something amiss.
"Can't say I'm heartbroken that you're not going to be seeing him again." Diego declared after a silent moment passes between them, Vanya going to see Leonard actually worked out in his favor, now he doesn't have to pretend to be okay with Vanya seeing him in the future.
"Me either, that guy is creepy as fuck." Allison blurted out her opinion, she has no shame that she was listening in on their conversation, like Diego she's happy to hear that Vanya won't be spending any more time with Leonard, something was off about that guy, her sister didn't need to be anywhere near him.
"If you guys are done talking nonsense, we really need to get back on topic." Luther's huge frame stood over Vanya, shadowing her, he narrowed his eyes at them.
"What is our topic again?" Klaus asked the empty chair that was stationed close to the couch. Everyone risked a quick glance to the chair before averting their eyes, not seeing whoever it was Klaus was seeing.
"The apocalypse." Luther scolded; how could Klaus forget the single most important information in the world right now?
"Did Five happen to mention exactly what his plan was? How he planned to stop everything from The Commission's side?" Vanya wondered out loud, Five didn't mention anything to her but maybe he did to one of their siblings, though it wasn't likely. Five wasn't in the habit of informing them of anything, he just goes ahead and does something, assuming they know what they are supposed to do and say for their parts when it comes to it.
A series of "no's" echoed one after the other.
"So, then we go head and assume that Five's plan won't work, whatever that plan is, and try a different angle from this side, I think the first thing we need to try to figure out is HOW the world ends, can't know how to stop something if we don't know how it started to begin with." Diego couldn't think of anything else that they could do that would help them.
"I think this has something to do with the moon." Luther couldn't stand still, crossing his arms over his chest, he started pacing in front of Diego's bed.
"The moon?" Diego and Klaus both asked doubtfully, Klaus added extra flare with his eye roll.
"Yeah, it has to be connected somehow, dad sent me up there for a reason, I sent him back data reports and samples, he knew something was coming and the moon must be connected, otherwise why send me up there?" He rhetorically asked, not actually expecting an answer back, he KNOWS the apocalypse has something to do with the moon, he's positive about that.
"Maybe." Vanya whispered; she didn't think the moon had anything to do with the world ending but she didn't want to be the one to say it out loud.
"Yeah, and maybe no matter what we do it's all hopeless regardless, and if that's the case I really should be spending my last days with my daughter." Allison needs to see Claire well she still could, if the apocalypse is inevitable and they can't do anything to stop it (which it's really starting to seem that way) then she needs to catch the first flight out to be with her daughter well she still can.
Diego and Vanya can understand that sentiment, their daughter is here with them, but Allison's is miles away from her. Diego pulls Luna closer to his chest well Vanya shifts over more to grab a hold of her little bug's tiny hand.
"Guys we need to be in this together, that's the only way were going to survive this." Luther tries to get through to them and their increasingly frowned faces, they don't answer him back.
"Can't do anything with me locked up in the hospital like this." Diego says, he's still in pain but it's manageable, he can take it easy outside of the stupid hospital bed, he can't just sit on the sidelines hoping for the best, he needs to be out there helping.
"Diego no! You were shot, what part of that is not comprehending in your brain!" Vanya immediately barked out; it's frustrating her that Diego is being so difficult about his healing process.
"I'm comprehending that just fine, thank you, but I'm also comprehending that I'm useless from this bed." Diego wants to snap back at her but refrains himself, instead he explains as calmly as he can, it's not easy to suppress his instinct to go on the defense on his actions. A part of him is flattered to see that Vanya is being a mother hen towards him but a bigger part is ready to jump out the window so he can escape the hospital bed.
"But-" Diego doesn't want to listen to reason right now, he knows she's coming from a place of worry and love and maybe if it were under different circumstances, he wouldn't be so insistent, but there not different circumstances, they're all on a timeline that is fast tracking them, so he interrupts her.
"No buts Vanya, I'm leaving this hospital today," he tells her firmly, at her grimace he softly adds, "I'll be careful and take it easy though."
"Alright," Vanya relents, not happy about his decision but unwilling to argue more about it, "You need to really be cautious though Diego, I don't want you hurting yourself even more."
"Come on Sweetheart, I'm like Superman, indestructible." It probably would have been more convincing if Diego hadn't immediately winced when he tried to sit up with Luna.
"More like Captain Underpants." Klaus tells the empty chair laughing.
"I'm going to go get started on looking for the research I sent down to dad on the moon well you figure out some way to leave the hospital," Luther says to Diego, "I'll talk to guys later, I'll let you know if I find anything." He addresses the room, they all have their doubts on the apocalypse having anything to do with the moon but don't voice them, not like it would get through Luther's thick skull anyways.
"Me and Klaus will go with you, I need to buy a plane ticket back home, and Klaus needs to..." Allison trails off when she notes that she doesn't actually know what Klaus needs to do or wants to do.
"Klaus needs to get out of this disease-ridden hospital and to his comfy bed for some much-needed sleepy time." Klaus stretches as he gets up from the couch to go over to Luna and Vanya, pressing a kiss to each of their foreheads he walks out the room with a flourish wave to Diego. Allison copies his moves minus the wave to their brother and leads Luther who was awkwardly sidestepping his way to the door, out of the room.
"Are you okay little bug?" Vanya waits to ask until she's sure none of their siblings will be coming back, Luna had been extremely quiet since she arrived back, staring at the TV with a blank expression.
"I'm okay Mamma." Luna replied, Vanya wants to believe that but it's hard to when they've all been through so much in so little time.
"Your side doesn't hurt anymore, or your arm?" Vanya moves over to pull Luna away from Diego to start checking her over again, there wasn't anything before, but she needs to make sure there still isn't.
"No hurt anymore," Luna pulls away from her to go back into Diego's arms, he smirks over at Vanya who playfully scowls back, "but daddy hurt still."
Vanya blinks at the unexpected word, she hasn't told Luna exactly who Diego is, truthfully, she wasn't going to mention it until Diego became more involved. She thinks Diego must have told her but one look at Diego's panicked face says all that she needs to know, he didn't tell Luna who he was either.
"I-I didn't tell her-her to call me that." Diego splutters out, his tongue feels swollen in his mouth, his dreaded stutter coming out at the worst time. His eyes are wide, he's waiting for Vanya to do something other than stare at him. They haven't talked about Luna and all that it means to be in her life yet, they aren't as lost as they were when he showed up at her house but there's still stuff that needs to be talked over and discussed. One of those things being what Luna will know him as.
"It's okay, I know you didn't." Diego has done a lot of shady things in his life, but Vanya knows he would never go behind her back and tell Luna he's her dad without consulting her first.
"Luna, who told you Diego is your daddy?" Vanya is putting her bets on Klaus or Allison, possibly both of them together, those two could never resist revealing information, their noses are always stuck in other people's business so it wouldn't come as a surprise to Vanya that they told Luna Diego was her dad.
"No one." Luna giggles as if the question is absurd to ask.
"If no one told you I'm your daddy, then how do you know?" Diego is curious to know, the whole concept is puzzling, he wonders if maybe this is just another weird thing to chalk up to Luna's gift.
"I just know," she looks between Vanya and Diego and stops her giggles when she sees they're not as happy as she wants them to be, "I'm in trouble?" She shrinks into Diego's side making him hiss in pain from her sharp skinny elbow barreling into his ribs.
"No Honey you're not in trouble." Vanya assures her, she tilts her lips up into a pathetic smile, so Luna doesn't think she's lying, which she isn't, Vanya's not upset at her little bug, not even upset that she called Diego "daddy", she's upset that her daughter has an unexplained gift that Vanya has no clue how to deal with.
"We need to eventually talk about this." Vanya directs at Diego, she doesn't elaborate the "this", but Diego nods his understanding.
"When everyone's together," he promises, he wants their siblings' input, wants to know their opinions and he wants all information to be put on the table so they can figure out exactly what Luna can and cannot do, "for now though, are you alright with her calling me that?" He hopes Vanya doesn't tell him she's not okay with it.
"Yeah-yeah I mean if she wants to call you that then I don't see a problem with it." It's not like Luna wouldn't eventually be calling him that anyways, Vanya doesn't see the harm in it, as long as Luna feels comfortable and Diego's okay with it.
"Are you okay with it?" Vanya doesn't really need to ask; she can tell by Diego's wide grin that he's having a proud papa moment, but she does anyways.
"Of course." He says back in a matter-a fact voice, which Vanya expected. They both don't say anything to each other for a minute, both collecting their thoughts.
"You both should go outside and wait for me well I figure out how to get out of here without having the nurses jumping me." Diego jokes, breaking the silence that fell over the room.
"Yeah, we wouldn't want to get in the way of your ninja skills." Vanya teases back, she gets up and collects Luna's things as well as some extra bandages for Diego that the nurses left sitting out. She feels like she needs more stuff to be able to take care of his wound but there's nothing else in the room and considering Diego isn't getting discharged but rather making a Houdini escape she tells herself to be satisfied with the bandages and move on.
"You're probably going to get annoyed with me telling you again, but please be careful." Vanya can't help but to repeat her earlier plead, she grabs his hands and helps him sit up, pressing a chaste kiss to his full lips before leaning over him to grab Luna in her arms.
"I will," Diego nods, "I'll see you outside." Before Vanya pulls away completely, he tugs on her shirt to bring her down again and gives her and Luna kisses on their foreheads before he nods to the door and watches them as they leave his hospital room, Luna waving her little hand goodbye to him like he's not going to see them in few minutes once he gets past the hound dogs otherwise known as nurses.
A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed, feel free to drop a review :)
***ANSWERS TO REVIEWS***
To Genbo: I love your "Go Diego/Vanya Pairing!" shout out, they deserve all the love lol 1000% there needs to be more love and support for this couple then what there is. I'm so glad to know you liked this fluffy filler chapter. For sure I will be continuing updating but as I'm sure you know by now being one of my reoccurring reviewers (which I appreciate so much by the way) I take forever in a day to update lmfao. I got all the feelings when I was writing Luna's part of calling Diego "Daddy" for the first time, I just kept thinking of how well Diego fits into a father role and how much I wanted it to be real, then I got sad remembering that unfortunately it's not real :( but I'm so happy I could at least play out that fantasy for myself and you readers in writing lol :)
To FastFan: This chapter was super fluffy, I enjoyed writing it so much, I'm happy to know you thought it was worth the wait, your one of my biggest supporters for this story, so it's a tremendous relief knowing you liked this chapter :) especially seeing as I was hesitant to post it because I wasn't sure how readers would take a filler chapter, but of course you guys are amazing and supportive which is beyond appreciated.
