(A/N): Elaine's letter to her mother explaining a lot of the things that have happened, concerning their family and Leo's. As always, italics are what is written in the letter.

Elaine

It took longer than I would have liked to compose my reply to my mothers letter, considering I had to be quite careful with how I worded things- not because I was worried about outing Leo as being a vampire, but because I didn't want my mother to fret over my safety, and especially because I didn't want to have to explain the fact that Leo and I's relationship was of a much more intimate nature than I had previously let on.

So, at the start of my letter, I wrote a disclaimer.

Mum, this letter is for YOUR EYES ONLY.

Don't let Jay read it, for obvious reasons!

I only hoped that A, she listened to me, and B, Jay didn't get to the letter first. I didn't have to worry about him wrestling it off of her like Lisbet would with Leo- one stern look from my mother, and Jay wouldn't dream of even looking at the letter, let alone touching it.

Believe me when I say I'm well aware of the risk to Leo and his family- as is he.

I tried for a second to remember if I knew for a fact whether or not Leo had told his clan about my father being a vampire hunter, but couldn't think of anything concrete. I'd have to make sure to ask him, when I replied to his most recent letter after this.

The truth is, technically I did get hurt because of Leo. Not BY Leo, and it wasn't Leo's FAULT, but it was because of my friendship with him that I was injured.

I pondered whether I should tell my mother Jonothan was Leo's uncle, or just say he was an enemy vampire that had it out for Leo. I couldn't see how it could possibly matter one way or another whether I told her, but I decided it would be better to err on the side of caution, and leave that little detail out.

As you probably guessed, Leo isn't a full vampire. His father is a vampire, his mother is human-

I was also leaving out the fact that Cipicia was half veela, which made Leo quarter veela, because Leo had mentioned that had been the tipping point for a lot of people. For whatever dumbass reason.

Which makes him half vampire. For reasons I personally don't understand, some people aren't happy about that. During the summer before my third year, one of those people, a vampire called Jonothan, in the course of trying to find Leo, found me instead.

I couldn't exactly say Jonothan had followed Leo's scent to my house, without telling my mother that Leo had come to our house in the dead of night and we had secretly hung out on the swing set all night, which wouldn't go over well. Neither would the fact that it wasn't the first time we had done so.

He bit me, but Leo managed to find us and get him off of me before he could do anything more than that. Leo forced him to leave and stayed inside long enough to patch me up, before sending me to bed. When I woke up the next morning, I found out Leo had stayed all night, outside on the swings, to make sure he didn't come back.

I tried to hide my bandage with a turtleneck, but Jay was suspicious, because it was summer and it was way too hot to be wearing a turtleneck. Jay caught me checking my wound in the mirror, and confronted me about it. He asked what happened, and I told him it was an accident. He refused to accept that and asked who did it, so I told him I was fine. Jay immediately jumped to the (incorrect) conclusion that it was Leo, and I told him Leo would never do something like that. Jay wouldn't believe anything I said to the contrary, and I couldn't change his mind without me telling him everything, so he continued to be utterly convinced it was Leo who had hurt me.

I paused, considering whether I should mention the next part, but ultimately decided my mother would probably ask about it anyway.

I then had a lovely conversation with Shari about Leo wanting to protect me as well, because that's when Leo and his family started watching over us, the first time. No, it wasn't just because of dad. Yes, we've had vampires staking out our house on and off for two and a half years. Yes, Leo's been to, and inside of, our house before your meeting with him. During those two and a half years, the only other time we've been threatened that you didn't know about, was the broken window incident.

I thought about the fact my mother had described Lisbet as a 'perfectly nice individual' and decided not to mention her by name for her role in this particular event, lest it change my mothers opinion of her.

About a week after the first attack, Jonothan came back, with a friend. Leo was on watch- to be honest, I thought he was being overprotective, but clearly, I was wrong. I was about to get in the shower, when Jonothan's friend shoved Leo through the window.

You remember that day when I said I threw something and it hit the window by mistake? Yeah. Leo had just jumped back out the window with a big piece of glass sticking out of his side- I didn't open the door because I was trying to mop Leo's blood off the floor with my towel so you didn't find out. The blood never fully washed out by the way, so I buried it in the backyard temporarily until I could get one of Leo's family to get rid of it properly- that's why you could never figure out why we were mysteriously missing a towel. (Sorry!)

Leo later told me that Shari and his dad arrived not long after that, but he was heavily injured in the fight, which is why I went to visit him about a week later- I think I told you it was a group thing? I'd say I'm sorry again, but... I had to make sure he was okay, and I knew you probably wouldn't let me go if you thought it was just the two of us.

I purposely neglected to mention the fact that Leo had been injured in the fight specifically so he could be taken to his mother- who had then proceeded to poison him in order to blackmail him into attending pureblood galas with her- before Lisbet had double-crossed her and helped him escape back home, and he had then spent a week recovering from said poisoning. I knew if my mother heard about even a tiny portion of what Cipicia had done to Leo, she would've done much more than hold his hand, and I also knew that Leo had been uncomfortable with even that gesture, so I left it as vague as I could.

Shari and Leo's father took turns keeping watch over us while Leo was recovering, and Lisbet joined them around this time. They were fairly convinced Jonothan wouldn't try to attack us again, whereas he has attacked them directly a few times since, but they never completely let their guard down- and then I received the first letter from dad, and Leo asked them to re-intensify their efforts. By this time Danniel and Jo had been with them about six months, and some time between this letter, and when dad actually showed up, they started taking shifts as well.

I know that, because Danniel was the one outside when he showed up, and, subsequently, was the one who alerted the others to the fact they didn't have a plan. Danniel told me (through Leo) that he absolutely would have stepped in if dad had tried to do anything more than talk, so I wanted to pass that on. The only time you were unguarded was the time it took for Danniel to run and apparate back to their house to sound the alarm, and for Lisbet to return and take his place- judging by how fast Leo is, I'd say that's roughly a half an hour, at the most.

Leo tried to apologise for not being able to consult me before he went to see you in order to formally offer his family's protection, but I wouldn't let him. It was much more my fault than his that we hadn't thought about what they would do if he actually showed up, and he's already taking on way too much of a risk for me to accept an apology from him for something that isn't his fault.

Even with the charms in place, there will only ever not be someone on watch outside the house during extenuating circumstances- Leo won't let them take any risks with our safety, and they're more than happy to let him call the shots in this situation.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask, and I'll do my best to answer them as best as I can.

Love, Elaine

(A/N): Elaine: 'What can I say except, "I'm sorry (not sorry)"'