(A/N): This chapter was originally meant to be written from Jerremyah's pov- and then I decided that it would be more impactful from Leo's pov, instead. I got about a third, maybe halfway through it, before I changed it.

Leo

One second I was in Lisbet's arms, slowly coming to the rather mortifying realisation that I had dug my claws into her shirt hard enough to break through it, and then the next- the next second, Jerremyah was halfway between us.

I was mostly getting an eyeful of his jumper clad shoulder, but my gaze stuck on the wand that he was pointing at my side- to the point where I almost didn't notice that the way he'd gotten between us was that he'd slipped his non wand wielding arm down between where her arm had been in contact with my side. I suppose from that position, he had used that to leverage her arm away from me- what I couldn't figure out, was why.

The wand made me nervous. Even if I trusted Jerremyah- which I did, for the most part- and I knew that Lisbet wouldn't let him cause me harm if by some chance that was what he wanted to do, as a wizard, it still instinctively screamed 'Danger!' somewhere in the back of my head- never mind the fact that it brought bad memories swimming to the forefront.

I tried to examine his face, to determine what the hell was going on with him, but what I saw there just made me more confused. There was such concern there that it was almost indistinguishable from terror, and beyond that, there was a significant amount of pain etched into his features, with no visible. Then, he started casting a spell that I didn't recognise the incantation for- but I certainly recognised the pleasant pale purple glow emitting from the end of his wand.

"Sana Ossa. Sana Ossa. Sana Ossa." He chanted over and over again as he dragged his wand through the air an inch or so away from my side, moving rather frantically- as if he was trying to cover as much ground as possible, as quickly as possible. I saw his eyebrows furrow as though things weren't going the way he expected, and then suddenly he was dipping around my back to my other side, only to do much the same thing. "Sana Ossa. Sana Ossa. Sana-" Lisbet grabbed his hand, forcing him to a halt- a momentary halt, because seemingly as soon as he realised that he had been stopped, he tugged his hand out of hers.

"Jer-" He cut her off, and a spike of panic stabbed through me as he started trying to pull my shirt up, apparently to get a better look at- well, whatever he was trying to do.

"Where?" He demanded, and I couldn't stop him from managing to lift my shirt up, just a little bit- he was too quick and strong, and I was way too befuddled to really fight it- and I knew that if I fought it too fiercely, it would only draw attention to the suspicious scars there that were still in the process if fading. He was bent nearly in half, his face mere inches from my body- as if he'd forgotten that as a vampire, he had the ability to see things just as clearly from a great distance away as from only inches away. If anything, being too close would actually make his chances of seeing anything worse, because his eyes would over-focus.

His eyes shot up to meet mine, and as I watched, they widened almost comically- then, his face softened slightly, even if all of those emotions from earlier were still there. "Where?" It was quieter this time, gentler- like he'd thought better of demanding the answer he wanted, and was taking a different tact. The problem was, I had no idea what answer he was looking for.

Lisbet laid a hand on his forearm, and this time he didn't try to shake her off- good, at least that was a somewhat normal reaction from him, unlike just about everything else he'd done since he'd sprung into action. "Jer- he's fine." What? Clearly Jerremyah was confused by this, as well. "He's fine, he's okay." He pulled back a bit, but his eyes continued to rove over me- and then he froze for a second, as if he'd found something unexpected. He tilted his head to the side like a confused puppy and straightened up, simultaneously letting my shirt drop from his hand- to my great relief.

"You're not... hurt?" I blinked. Was I- Was I? I didn't think I was, but... Jerremyah certainly seemed like he thought I was. I took a second to assess myself- to assess how my body was feeling- no. I didn't think I was hurt... at least, not anymore than usual.

"...no?" He continued to stare at me, still looking incredibly confused, but immediately he was clearly quite relieved- which was rather touching, actually.

"You're not..." He glanced back at Lisbet, who also appeared confused, but considering that she had been the one to try to reassure him- and it had worked- apparently she knew more than either of us did. Time to correct that.

"Why don't you tell us what you think happened, Jerremyah?" He turned back to me, looking a bit reluctant- and a bit sheepish.

"I- look," He started- then immediately stopped again. He glanced apologetically at Lisbet, and she gave him a look in return that I could only describe as preemptively forgiving. He turned his attention back to me. "Are you sure you're..." His eyes dropped, and he was clearly examining me again- checking me for injuries. "You're okay?" At this point I didn't know what to say, but nonetheless, I did my best to try to reassure him.

"I mean... yes? Pretty sure, anyway." I patted my sides with my hands where he'd been casting his spells at me, and I saw him tense- as if he was expecting me to buckle, and start screaming in pain. "Jerremyah," He met my eyes again. "I've only known you for a few days, but... I know you're not the type of person to do this sort of thing for no reason. You're clearly concerned- whatever you think happened... we're not going to make fun of you for it, or anything." He winced.

"I'm not... that's not... what I'm worried about." It wasn't? "I'm used to being made fun of- what's a little ribbing among friends?" The joke popped into my head and I considered not voicing it, but in the end I decided that it might lighten the mood a bit, so I did say it.

"Is that what they're calling it, nowadays?" He blinked, and the corner of his lips quirked up. It wasn't quite the grin I was hoping for, but it was better than nothing.

"Nice." He congratulated- then, he took a breath, and pushed onward. "I- I heard a popping noise, and I-" He glanced at Lisbet, looking quite guilty... but she just seemed even more confused than before. "I thought that maybe... maybe Lisbet had overdone things, a bit." Huh? I saw her blink, and then understanding lit her features- closely followed by horror.

"What do you- Lisbet?" Her eyes flicked to meet mine, and I saw the pain there- like she had been the one injured, instead. In fact, as subtly as possible, I quickly scanned her for any outward signs of harm- but I found nothing. "What's he saying?" She winced, and hesitated- and I think it was seeing this that made Jerremyah decide to take that metaphorical bullet for her.

"I thought she broke your ribs." I blinked- what? "I thought that when she hugged you, she'd squeezed a little too tight, and she'd- I thought the pops I heard were your bones breaking." Oh. Oh. Oh God, Lisbet- I looked at her, saw the almost haunted look in her eyes-

"No! No- no broken ribs. Yes, I'm sure about that- I've broken my ribs before-" Well, other people had, for the most part, but it still counted. "-there's nothing like that going on." Then, my mind seemed to catch up, and I felt my cheeks flush- though I had to guess that it went beyond that, because my entire head- and neck, and honestly, my upper chest- felt quite heated. "That was- the noise- the popping-" I flushed darker, tucking my fingertips into my palm as if hiding my now retracted claws would change the fact that I'd punctured Lisbet's shirt with them. "I- Lisbet- Shirt." Then, I ducked my chin to my chest, dropping my eyes to my own feet- hoping against hope that Lisbet would take it from there.

I heard the quiet shuffling of feet as she sidled closer to him, then I heard her say in a hushed tone- but not hushed enough, considering that I could hear it- "It's okay, I promise. He just-" There was a pause here, where I guessed she was glancing back at me. "He stuck his claws through my shirt." I winced. "I think he's a bit embarrassed." I winced harder, and her voice rose a bit- pointedly, so there was no way I could pretend that I couldn't hear it. "He shouldn't be."

I squeezed my eyes shut, wrapping my arms around my middle in an attempt to covertly comfort myself- though apparently not covertly enough, because a second later, I felt a hand land on my forearm. And then there was another. I opened my eyes, and saw that the first hand belonged to Lisbet- which I suppose was what I had expected, in this situation- but the second was not Lisbet's other hand, but... Jerremyah's.

I lifted my eyes to meet his, and he stared down at me- which was only possible because I still had my head dropped- his gaze full of a sort of tender guilt. "It's alright." He told me softly, but his eyes were still rather wide- like he wasn't entirely sure he was saying the right thing. "It's nothing to be embarrassed about." I saw it hit him. Saw him mentally debate with himself whether or not he should say it- then saw him decide that actually, this might help. He opened his mouth. "Lord knows I've ripped more than my fair share of Lisbet's clothing."

I didn't laugh. Instead, I blinked- surprising even myself with the fact that I was blinking back tears- and then, I leaned forward, and let my forehead thud against the front of his shoulder. For the second time today, I found myself basically forcing Jerremyah into hugging me.

(A/N): Jerremyah: *freaking the frick out*

Lisbet and Leo: *sharing a confused look over his shoulder*

Leo: 'Should we uh... do something?'

Lisbet: 'No, just let him tire himself out.'

also

Leo: *embarrassed that he ripped Lisbet's shirt*

Jerremyah: 'You know, when we were together, she took to wearing MY clothes because she figured if she did, I couldn't rip her clothes to shreds.'

Leo: 'I'm going to guess you found a way around that.'

Jerremyah: 'Yeah, I ripped MY clothes off of her.'

Lisbet: 'At which point I figured that if he was going to rip them off anyway, I should at least have clothes that fit properly, in the meantime.'

also

Leo: 'Why didn't you just ask Jerremyah to stop ripping all of your clothes?'

Lisbet: 'Because I LIKE it when he does- oop.'

also

Leo: *assessing himself to check whether he's injured*

Leo: 'No, I'm not injured.'

Leo: *hesitates*

Leo: 'But Jerremyah seems convinced that I am... hm, better check again!'

Spells:

Sana Ossa = 'Healthy Bones' in Latin, a spell for healing broken bones larger than things like a nose or toes (like how Episkey is used). This is the spell that Jerremyah uses in front of Evie in Chapter 354 (Said The Actress To The Bishop), to mend his own ribs. This is also, sneakily, the spell that Soren used in Chapter 400 (On Thin Ice) to set and mend Leo's broken ankle and tibia- which is why Leo says he recognises the 'pleasant pale purple glow', because when I wrote Soren using it, he never said the incantation out loud, but his wand glowed purple- or 'a rather nice lilac', as Leo put it.

As I said in the Author's Note at the beginning, I thought this chapter would be more impactful from Leo's pov than Jerremyah's, because even if Jerremyah wasn't really explaining himself while I was writing him, it was more obvious what he was trying to do, whereas this way we feel Leo's confusion with him, and if you guys forgot what sort of spell 'Sana Ossa' was, or what it was used for, you probably would have been just in the dark as Leo was. If you did remember- good on you! I had to look up what my own fictional bone-healing spell was, so clearly I didn't remember.