AN:One of, if not the, longest chapters in this entire story. I personally love this chapter to bits; what do you think?

Sally Blofis glanced concernedly at her son's Chinese-Canadian friend.

Frank, while normally a little quieter than the other three boys, seemed abnormally silent and closed-off today. He'd picked at his dinner, and had barely moved when the other three went off to the living room to play video games. It was only Leo's arm around his shoulders (quite a feat for the Latino boy) that ensured he'd gone with them.

Now, he was back in the kitchen, alone, doubtlessly having mumbled some excuse about getting a drink.

'Are you okay, Frank?'

(He was obviously not okay, but what else could she say? Demand that he tell her what was bothering him? She wasn't his mother, even though she and Esperanza had often been surrogate mothers to Frank and Jason.)

He put down the glass of water he was holding, and looked at her, obviously uncomfortable.

But Frank had always been (and would always be) frank, so he replied.

'No, I'm not.'

Sally walked over and stood opposite him, leaning on the kitchen counter.

'I know I'm not your mother, Frank, and I can't be her, but if you need to talk, I'm here.'

He smiled wanly.

'Thank you, Mrs Blofis.'

She shook her head, eyes warm with affection.

'Sally, dear. Call me Sally.'

(Though, she'd been telling him to call her that for a year and a half now. He'd probably never change.)

They stood there in silence for a while, Frank sipping his glass of water.

Sally just waited.

Finally, he spoke.

'Hypothetically, how should you feel if your soulmate loved someone before they met you, and didn't tell you about them?'

Oh, poor Frank. And poor Hazel.

(She'd seen the two of them together several times, and it was as clear as day that the two were head-over-heels for one another. It was clear that they were good for each other; she didn't know Hazel all that well, but she knew Frank's nature well enough, and she'd seen the slowly-growing quiet confidence in the boy. But no relationship was free of its challenges and troubles, and they were so young...)

Sally smiled gently at him.

'Frank, do you know my story? Do you know how I came to be married to Paul, and how I came to have Percy?'

He reddened and looked flustered.

(Obviously, he had wondered how Percy had come to be, considering that Paul was her soulmate but not his biological father.)

'No, I don't…I mean...it's private.'

She busied herself making some hot chocolate.

'Well, I met Percy's father when I was quite young. We knew that we weren't soulmates, but we fell in love anyway. Percy was born, and we parted not long after because he met his soulmate.'

Frank frowned.

'...I'm sorry.'

She smiled at him.

'Don't be. I don't regret my relationship with Percy's father, or having Percy.' She took a deep breath. She'd reached the point that she was trying to make. 'I spent a long time alone after that. I didn't meet Paul until four years ago. If not for Percy, I think I would have found it much harder to tell him about Percy's father.'

She handed Frank a cup of hot chocolate. He looked down at it.

'But you did tell him.'

She guided him over to the dining table, and they sat down.

'Frank, they weren't the first words out of my mouth. Not nearly. It took me a little longer than it should have, and remember, Paul and I are much older than you. My point is, Frank, that you shouldn't judge your soulmate for having loved someone else before you. Some people never meet their soulmate, and some people's relationships with their soulmate don't work out. Besides, people do fall in love, because they're human and it's part of our nature. People fall in love with people who are not their soulmate more often than most people think.'

He looked up briefly from his hot chocolate, then looked down again, shoulders slumped. Sally could tell that he now felt very, very guilty, which he shouldn't.

'But it's also okay and normal to feel jealous, and to be hurt because they didn't tell you. But you shouldn't let it destroy your relationship. They have their reasons for not telling you yet.'

She reached out and put a hand on his. He looked up, and they made eye contact.

'Talk to her Frank. Remember how much you love her.'

His cheeks burned red, but expression serious, he nodded.

'I will.'

He took a large gulp of his hot chocolate.

'Thanks, Mrs Blofis, I mean, Sally. Thanks.'

She smiled at him and poured some more hot chocolate into his mug.

'Anytime, Frank, anytime.'

Of course, Frank mused, it was much easier said than done.

But it had to be done. They had to talk about it.

It'd been five days since he'd overheard that conversation, and seven since their encounter with Octavian and Phineas, and things hadn't been quite right between them ever since.

They were sitting in his living room. His grandmother was on the other side of the house, playing mah-jong with friends. It was as good a time as any.

He took a deep breath.

'Hazel...who did you leave behind when you left New Orleans?'

Her eyes widened. She jumped up and took a step backwards.

'Who told you? Phineas? Octavian? Whatever they told you, I can explain, Frank-'

'Why didn't you tell me, Hazel? Don't you trust me? Didn't you think I deserved to know?'

She flinched at the pain in his voice. He stood.

'I was scared, Frank! So scared of telling you, so scared of how you would react, so I kept putting it off...'

He flung his hands in the air.

'Were you ever going to tell me? Or were you just going to keep your ex-boyfriend a secret from me forever?'

The hurt and bitterness in his tone stung her.

'Of course I was going to tell you! I just-' She paused for a moment, fully processing what he'd said. 'Wait, ex-boyfriend? That's what you've been going on about?'

The genuine confusion in her voice shocked him, and the pained tone of his voice was replaced by curiosity.

'Yes, that Sammy guy...what were you referring to?'

Hazel's eyes filled with tears.

Oh, gods, he'd made her cry. That was not what he'd intended to do.

'If...if you really don't want to talk about it, it's okay...'

(Well, no it wasn't, not really, because he was still hurt and jealous, but she was crying and he had a feeling there was a lot more to the story than an ex-boyfriend.)

She shook her head and took a deep breath, and sat down on the couch, wiping her eyes on her sleeve.

'No, you need to know...Frank...I haven't been completely honest with you. I never told you everything about what happened to my mother, and what I left behind in New Orleans.'

She sniffled. He sat down on the couch beside her. Her confession, and the promise of the explanation, somehow made him feel less hurt. He remembered Sally's words. They have their reasons...

'You know that my mother got mixed up with the gangs. And you know she tried to get out of it, and that they killed her because of it. But...' She glanced hesitantly at him, and then looked back down at her hands. 'You don't know the full story.' She took a deep breath. 'I got home from my job at the riding stable a little earlier than usual. When I got home, the front door was open. That's...that's when I knew something bad must have happened. I...I stayed quiet, like my mother had told me to if something like that happened...and I walked inside.' She took another deep breath. 'I picked up a...a marble statute, of the Roman god Pluto, that was on a table in the hallway...and I walked into the living room, and I saw...I saw...' Her voice broke, and she choked out a sob. 'I saw a man. Holding a bloody knife. Kneeling over my mother...who...who wasn't moving.' She started crying again, and he had to strain to hear her words through her tears. 'I...I don't quite remember what happened next, but...next moment, I was standing over an unconscious man with a bloody dent in his head holding the statute...'

She looked up at him, tears pouring down her face and fear and guilt in her eyes. Hazel had always been tiny and young, especially compared to him, but she'd never looked so small.

'Frank...I...I nearly killed a man. He's in a coma in a New Orleans hospital. They think I gave him brain damage. It nearly went to court and I almost...I almost...Phineas and Octavian...they...they were right about me.'

She turned away, and got up as if to leave.

He reached out and grabbed her hand.

'No, no they weren't! You are a good person, Hazel! You tried to save your mom! You tried to defend her, even though he had a knife. You were an eleven-year-old girl, and you were so, so brave-'

'I nearly killed him, Frank!'

He shook his head and pulled her down onto the couch beside him.

Why can't she see?

'In self-defence! Hazel, you didn't mean to-'

'I'm not even sure what I meant to do, all I knew was that I had to something, but I really didn't have to hit him that hard with a marble statute-'

'Hazel, you were eleven years old without absolutely no self-defence training whatsoever! You saw a man with a bloody knife standing over your unconscious, dying mother. You had a marble statue in your hands. You did what any reasonable person would do!' He took her hands and looked into her eyes. 'The fact that you still feel guilty about it just proves that you're a really, really good person.'

She stared for a moment, then smiled wanly at him.

'I don't deserve you.'

He laughed hollowly.

'No, I don't deserve you. I was the one who jumped to conclusions like crazy because I was mad with jealousy, and accused you of lying about an ex-boyfriend when your secret was obviously much more, well...serious and painful.'

'And I was the one who didn't tell you the truth because I was too scared of losing you, causing you to jump to those conclusions.'

They both reddened as they processed what the other had said.

He was mad with jealousy over me?

She didn't tell me because she was too scared of losing me?

He reached out and enfolded her in his arms.

'I'm sorry, Hazel.'

'I'm sorry too, Frank.'

They stayed there for a moment, both feeling much lighter and more at ease.

Then they broke apart, and sat side by side on the couch.

Hazel frowned, tilting her head to the left.

'Frank, how did you find out about Sammy?'

He blushed and rubbed the back of his neck.

'Umm...well, I ended up eavesdropping on you talking to Nico. It was an accident, I swear!'

She laughed and entwined her hand with his.

'I believe you, don't worry!' Her voice turned more serious. 'But if you're to know the full story...Sammy was the old man who owned the stables that I used to work at. He...he was very kind to me at a time when no-one else was. He was more than a friend, he was really like my grandfather...' Tears started to fall again. He pulled her closer, and she rested her head on his chest. '...He was killed not long after my mother...the police always believed it was retaliation for...for what I did.'

He held her tighter as she sobbed into his chest. He felt some tears prickling in his own eyes.

She's so, so wracked with guilt. It's not fair, not fair at all that these things happened to her, that she feels this way...

Eventually, her sobs slowed. Hazel sat up, wiping the last of the tears from her eyes.

'I'm sorry, I think I've ruined your shirt.'

He looked down at the shirt in question and shrugged.

'It's just a shirt.'

For some reason, that made her laugh.

'Boys.'

Her face turned serious again.

'So, are we okay?'

He took a deep breath and paused, looking down. He gathered his courage. If they were to be completely honest with one another, there was one more thing...

He looked up.

There was fear in her eyes, likely a result of his hesitation.

'No, not quite. If we're going to be completely, totally honest with one another...there is one more thing.' He ran a hand through his hair. 'I...I don't quite know how to explain it. Come to my football match next week...and we'll talk about it after. I promise.'

She nodded, the fear receding from her eyes, replaced by understanding.

'Okay.' She smiled and curled closer to him.

He let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.

'We're going to be okay.'

She kissed him lightly on the cheek.

'We're going to be more than okay.'

AN: Okay, a little justification about Frank accusing Hazel of lying about an ex-boyfriend (by omission).

I know this does not happen in canon, and probably wouldn't happen. In canon, I interpret that Frank is mostly jealous of Leo and wary of him (as a manifestation of his insecurities), and a bit hurt and bitter that Hazel seems to be drawn to Leo and didn't tell him about Sammy, but is not really very angry at Hazel or concerned about her cheating on him or anything- more concerned that he's going to lose her.

However, we've got a bit of a difference in universe here. Firstly, the whole soulmate thing adds another dimension, in my opinion, and secondly, well, there is no Sammy/Leo/ex-boyfriend's stunt-double around for Frank to be jealous/wary of, so his insecurity kind of manifests itself in jumping to conclusions (as in being paranoid).

Also, questionable morality of Hazel hitting a guy over the head with a marble statue, but I think it's what any reasonable person in that scenario would do, or is at least a reasonable response. (Given that one's mother is dying/dead on the floor, a guy is holding a knife and one is likely to be the next victim, I think it's a reasonable way to act.)