A/N: Disclaimer in Chapter 1.

At the moment this fic looks as if its going to be about forty chapters possibly a little moreI want to write it as one long fic rather than two parts and I don't want to rush the entire pregnancy into the last few chapters.

Chapter 20: List

Robin looked at them in complete embarrassment, his head tipped from side to side as he thought of an answer. Vlad growled and turned around flailing his arms out, narrowly missing Erin.

Ingrid shook her head, suddenly recognising Robin's behaviour. "You didn't tell them?"

"ROBIN!" Vlad cried exasperatedly, sounding just like his thirteen year old self.

Robin immediately tried to defend himself, "I may have forgotten, but I would have remembered."

Vlad let out a growl and he felt the familiar signs of his fangs wanting to lower. The tingle that began in his jaw. Erin looked at Robin, deciding it was best to intercede before Vlad did or said something to hurt Robin. "Robin this was the entire reason *FOR* Vlad to bring you back."

Ingrid stood sharply, hoisting Robin up by the scruff of his collar and roughly shoving him across the room angrily. "You're going to fix it now."

"How?"

Vlad was the one who answered, "You'll think of something Robin." Vlad wasn't going to lie to them again; he'd run out of excuses.

Erin noticed the bottle of soy blood on the table. She couldn't hide it anywhere. She threw it to Vlad who caught it. He stuffed it into his back pocket, pulling his shirt down over the portion that wouldn't fit into his pocket. The sight of anything vampiric would wipe their minds again.

The door opened, Renfield tripped over the threshold quickly followed by Robin's parents. Graham immediately fixed on Vlad not noticing anyone else in the room; he strode towards him his fists shaking as if threatening him. Vlad wasn't going to take the bait though.

"No more games Vlad," Graham shouted at him, unnerved by the way Vlad didn't flinch. "My son goes missing and you were the last people to see him and now my daughter comes here and doesn't come back. I'm not going to accept it. I want to know where they are."

Ingrid grabbed Robin again and shoved him forward, into the space between them and the Branaghs. He coughed and everyone's eyes fixed on him. Vlad wasn't going to help him at the moment; Robin had brought this on himself. He should have told them he was back after all that was all he had to do to get them off their back but he'd forgotten.

Graham wasn't impressed with his son; he had expected at least one phone call from him. "Where have you been young man? You have had us worried, this friend of yours didn't want to tell us anything…"

Robin floundered in the middle of the room; he didn't know what Vlad had told them at all. He looked at Vlad and Erin wanting help.

Catherine stood, flashing her Guild badge quickly, pretending that it was a police badge. Erin hoped it didn't cause another wipe. "Chloe's in our custody."

Elisabeth stared at her before shaking her head; she couldn't believe that Chloe would ever be arrested. "You have the wrong person."

"A car was tampered with. Chloe was there at the time. Two of our colleagues were badly hurt. Robin hasn't been allowed to contact anyone either."

Graham didn't believe her, Chloe wasn't that sort of child. She wouldn't do anything wrong, she was too bright for that. "Chloe wouldn't do anything…"

"She was the only person in the area at the time, she's the only one who had chance to tamper with the car. She's not going anywhere. That means Robin stays too, he's her representative."

"Chloe's eighteen!" His protest fell on deaf ears; Chloe was old enough to represent herself. "I'll fight this."

Catherine knew it wouldn't help Chloe, "You can but if you interfere it'll be worse on your daughter." It wasn't an entirely empty threat, Chloe needed help – she was obsessed with Vlad. If they interfered she wouldn't get the help she so clearly needed.

Erin watched as Graham's face turned white. Catherine really could be intimidating. Elisabeth had been studying Mina in the corner throughout the conversation. She seemed to remember her fleetingly.

"Mina?" Elisabeth cried, rushing towards her former friend, using this as a distraction from the new she'd just received. Vlad moved out of the way, standing near the blood cabinet. "I'm so sorry about Eric, you left just after the funeral…"

Erin's eyes immediately flickered to Vlad's; his face fell for a fraction of a second before his guards shot back up.

Vlad looked around the room; he'd thought he'd left the guilt behind years ago. Clearly he hadn't. He realised in that moment that he'd never spoken about it with the Van Helsings after the night he'd taken Erin after destroying the super weapon. They'd become friends but they'd never dared to bring up the subject.

The guilt was crushing him and he walked from the room in an effort to escape it but you couldn't ever escape guilt – you could only learn to live with it.

Mina heard him moving, shooting a concerned look to Erin. She knew why Vlad had left. She looked at Erin with understanding in her eyes.

'I'm sorry.' Erin mouthed, she really hadn't expected Vlad to act that way.

Mina gave her a small smile, 'It's okay.' It was water under the bridge now, they were allies and that meant putting everything behind them.

Erin gave her a faint smile before she ran from the room, chasing after her errant mate.

YEKNODELTTILYEKNODELTTIL

Flashes of light flickered from the room through the open door, casting orange and blue blasts of light on the wall opposite. Erin approached slowly hearing the metal creaking and the fizzle of a fireball as it was spread across it.

Erin poked her head through the door, watching as Vlad drew his arm back forming a fireball in the palm of his hand. He thrust his arm forwards and the fireball was released. It hit the foot high metal shield on the turnstile in front of him, the force causing it to spin around.

This was the safest outlet for his powers.

Erin threw a fireball as the shield came to a halt. It immediately swung around. Vlad jumped startled before he spun to face her standing in the doorway. There was only one person other than Bertrand who could throw fireballs that accurately – he should knew, he taught her to.

She nodded as she spoke, "Mina understands Vlad."

Vlad tipped his head, shaking it. "How can she? I've never apologised for killing her husband."

"You apologised to Jonno and you didn't kill Eric Van Helsing." Erin knew this had been eating at Vlad slowly.

"I was the one who mind wiped him and the vampire attacked." He didn't believe her, he was the one who'd caused him to be an easy target.

Erin wrapped her arms around his neck before she pressed herself up to him, gently kissing the bite on his neck before burring her nose into the space between his neck and his collarbone.

"He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. If it wasn't Eric Van Helsing it would have been another breather. Back then you couldn't stop vampires from biting breathers; anyway they got their revenge in the end. How many of our kind did they slay to retaliate?"

"Too many." He muttered looking across at the table at a pile of papers. The pile was large; a name was on each page. A hastily drawn picture in the corner of each one.

"Exactly." Erin followed his gaze to the pile, confusion crossing her face. She gestures with her hands to the pile, "What are those?"

"The list of vampires that were slain by the Guild."

Erin walked across to the table; she'd forgotten Vlad could read faster than anyone she knew. It was one of the advantages to his powers.

Erin perched on the table next to the list, reaching down with her left hand to twist the papers around for her to read. The yellowed paper made it easier for her to read. "Did you find anything out?"

"Yeah." He nodded, he had found out something. They couldn't find Olga if they stayed at his manor. "We're going on a trip."

"What for?" She didn't think he was running away but she was worried he was trying to protect her.

"To find what Chloe's after, most of the clans that were slain were centred around…"

Erin blinked, this was news to her, "When?" She could have kicked herself for interrupting him.

Vlad shrugged, "Tonight."

She was missing something here… either that or he was ill. "Aren't you going to tell me to stay home?" She expected him to play the part of the overprotective husband, concerned for their child's safety.

Vlad shrugged; there was no point in being concerned. He'd be wasting his time trying to convince her. "It's not like you'd listen." Erin nodded, it was true she wouldn't. Clearly he was trying to save himself from the bother of trying to get her to remain where she was.

Now she was regretting interrupting him. "Where are we going?"

Vlad smirked at her; she'd work it out soon enough.

She'd enjoy this trip.

TBC

A/N: What do you think?

Thanks for reading.