Bronev and Emmy, probably a few months after Emmy's first encounter with Layton.
"It will be perfectly annoying to find you a new school, Emmeline."
The girl glances up at him, shamefaced. "'m sorry, Uncle Leon."
"Speak up," he snaps automatically. "Bother those 'sisters.' Calling me in for such an utter waste of time!"
They turn the corner. Emmeline fidgets with her book bag as St. Agatha's School fades into the mist.
"But I don't have to go back there?" she asks after a moment.
He sighs. "Given that you're on the verge of being expelled anyway—"
Emmeline turns bright red.
"—but also that your headmasters feel that kissing a girl in the hall is somehow a more heinous offense than the prodigious number of fights you've gotten yourself into—"
Her mouth drops open; she covers it quickly with her hand. (A dozen years, and he still can't break her of wearing her bloody heart on her sleeve. Well, never mind that now.)
"—No," he finishes. "I brought you to London so you would learn to blend in, not to have you educated by small-minded dullards."
To his embarrassment, Emmeline squeaks and throws her arms around him. "Thank you," she says in his ear.
"All right, all right, there's no need to be sentimental about it." He extricates himself from the hug (and if he smiles for a moment, he doesn't let her see). "Emmeline, look at me."
She snaps to attention, though a ghost of a smile remains on her lips.
"I give not two figs whom your eyes land on," he informs her, "male or female, so long as you do not allow them to distract you from our greater goals. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, Uncle Leon."
"I do not recommend falling in love." He turns his eyes forward. "It can be"—(don't think of Rachel)—"uncommonly messy. Don't be fool enough to give someone that weakness to exploit."
"Y-Yes, Uncle Leon." A shred of doubt? But she always comes around in the end.
"I've done you a disservice, I think," he says.
"Uncle?"
"You're getting older, Emmeline, and there are a number of… associated facts that I've neglected to discuss with you. First of all…"
By the time they return to the base, his niece is crimson from head to toe.
Author's note:
Okay, so after that last one-shot I just had to write something a little happier, and this is a moment that's been in the back of my head for a while. (I still hate Bronev, mind you. But even he can't be horrible every minute of every day.)
Yes, Bronev totally gave Emmy the sex talk. :D For the curious, I headcanon her as bisexual or biromantic ace, I'm still not sure which. And yes, Bronev's telling the truth when he says that he doesn't care. He just doesn't want her to get attached, romantically or otherwise.
…because someone's bound to ask, I think she probably had a teenage crush on Layton, but I don't ship them. I'd rather write found-family stuff anyway.