~*T*~

"Carol Dallon," Hermione gestured, hand up at head height, slightly cupped, a picture of teenaged disdain, at the woman, "Mark Dallon," a matched gesture indicated the man.

He gave half a wave at the introduction.

"Vicky," this gesture is more shoulder-height, but hardly more respectful.

"Luna," Hermione pointed with her chin, and Luna bowed, flourished an imaginary hat.

"And Taylor," she pointed with her chin again, and Harry curtsied, the gesture, as always, looking a little silly in trousers.

Hermione crossed her arms, shoulders back, feet spread, glaring.

"Oh my god! They're adorable!" Vicky gushed, darting over.

Harry brought his hands up, took a step back, hands open, palms forward, right hand back, knees bent.

Luna had her fists up, one up to guard her face, the other back by her chest, even as she took three, quick, low steps toward Hermione.

"And so protective!" Vicky crossed her own fists at her breast, hugged herself with a joyous wiggle, "No wonder you always hated the dates I dragged you on!"

Carol looked at her daughters, looked at Amy's girlfriends who had relaxed a little, but still had their hands up, met Amy's glare, and began to cry.

Hermione blinked, stared, her arms relaxing, completely nonplussed.

~*i*~

Mark had made hot chocolate, and everyone was seated at the kitchen table. Carol was at one end, Mark at the other. Vicky was on one long side, and Hermione was on the other, with Harry and Luna to either side.

"I'm sorry," Carol said, after a few minutes of silently staring into her mug.

"What for?" Hermione asked after a while.

"I was too busy waiting for you to turn into your father to remember you were just a kid, with her own hopes, dreams, and ambitions."

Hermione blinked at her confused, "What are you talking about?"

"You know you're adopted, right?"

"I hoped I was adopted."

Carol flinched, "I deserve that," she took a sip, stared into her mug, "Your father was Marquis. We attacked his house one night, used you as a hostage when he stepped in front of the closet you were hidden in to protect you," she went silent again.

Luna stared, glancing around the table a minute, then burst out, "You fucking idiots! You attacked the least-bad villain in town, in his own house, stole his daughter, and then unmasked?" Only Hermione's having quickly grabbed her hair kept Luna from banging her head on the table, "You're lucky to have only lost Fleur."

Carol looked like she wanted to protest.

Mark nodded sadly, "We were lucky. Do you think the Teeth would have given us Vicky back intact if they were using her as a hostage?"

Carol's face fell like a three-year-old's, and she sobbed on the table. Mark got up, walked around behind Vicky, and gathered his wife into his arms.

Hermione blinked, conflicted, at them, eyes shiny. Harry gathered her in his arms, and Luna gave her a kiss on the temple.

"Don't worry," Luna said softly, "It'll take a lot more than this for her to stop being the paranoid bitch you know so well."

~*i*~

"There is a tradition, you may have noticed," Carol started. She went silent, hid her face behind her hands, clasped around her mug.

Hermione, cuddled into Harry's lap, protective arms around her waist, eventually said "A tradition?"

"Not to talk about one's trigger events," Carol went silent again.

"Probably part of why we have so many messed up parahumans," Luna said, "We're really designed to share our problems."

"Maybe," Carol sighed, stared into her cup.

Harry sighed as well, "My best, kinda only, friend turned on me the summer before high school. She was popular, and I cared too much, was hurt by her behavior. They let up after Thanksgiving, then, when I got back at the beginning of January, I found they had filled my locker with used feminine hygiene products, which were decomposing, but not enough, still smelled like blood, and rotting meat, and the bugs," he shrugged, clutched Hermione tighter, "Slammed my head into the back of the locker hard enough to give me a concussion, shoved me in, locked the door behind me, left laughing. I puked sometime about then," he shrugged again, "And proceeded to freak the fuck out, and triggered over it. I mostly don't remember anything from then until I got a handle on things in the hospital a week later."

"It wasn't being kidnapped, or the weeks of imprisonment, those were just setup, it was the feeling of betrayal when I realized that the kidnapper who'd been nicest to us was just as bad as the rest of them," Carol smiled a smile that came no where near her eyes, "And I feel so dumb for being surprised, for expecting, no, believing, a kidnapper wouldn't be an . . . " she trailed off. "It was almost thirty years ago, I should be over it by now."

"Some things just have to be shared and accepted," Luna said, "I'd almost use normalized, but that's not quite the right word."

~*i*~

Carol hugged Luna, then Harry, then, with a noticeable flinch, Hermione, "I suck. I suck really a lot. I should have been a better mother."

Hermione nodded, stiff in Carol's arms.

"I want to do better. I'll try to do better. Will you let me?" Carol squeezed her tighter.

"Yes," Hermione said in a small voice. She relaxed a little, hugged Carol back, a gentle squeeze.

~*T*~