(A/N): Leo and Jerremyah are supposed to leave, but honestly, Leo and Lisbet are holding up the entire operation, and Jerremyah isn't mad about because he just likes watching them interact.

Leo

An hour- and another glass of watered down blood- later, Jerremyah and I started to try to go on our way. Once again, Lisbet came to see us off, and as we stood on the front doorstep, Lisbet wrapped me in her arms once more.

"Good luck with the deer... dear." I rolled my eyes at her- mainly for Jerremyah's benefit, over her shoulder.

"Good luck with the door." As she pulled back a little, to glance back at the door, I saw that she was slightly flushed- clearly, she was embarrassed.

"You- You're- They're right, you are a demon child." I beamed at her, and watched her face visibly soften.

"Born and raised- well, mostly raised. I choose to blame you for most of that." She blinked, and looked... affected. I couldn't tell if she was proud, or offended by that, so I distracted her by gesturing to Jerremyah, past her. "I'm sure he's only going to make me worse, in that regard." Her expression only got harder to read, and Jerremyah's was just as indecipherable, as well. "O...kay... You two just... keep doing what you're doing. You should know, though, that not being able to eavesdrop on your heartbeat's is incredibly frustrating to me." This worked, and made the corner of their mouths quirk up.

"Trust me, it's a good thing you can't." Jerremyah said, crossing his arms over his chest, which only confused me further.

"Ooh, the possibility of learning things I don't want to know? How will I ever recover from losing that chance?" He hit me with a dry look, that I chose to take as him being amused. "Hopefully I'll just be able to ask most of what I want to know, so... get ready for that." Jerremyah shrugged, and Lisbet frowned for half a second, then remembered that she was supposed to be trying to encourage my healthy curiosity, and twisted it into a... very believable smile.

"I'll be sure to... clear my schedule, in anticipation." I huffed out a laugh.

"In your own words- 'subtle'." She rolled her eyes at me, but was clearly too fond of me to put much heat behind it.

"Look, I think we can all agree that none of us are big on talking." She said, and Jerremyah shrugged again, smirking slightly.

"I love talking. I can run my mouth all day-" Lisbet and I both rolled our eyes.

"I don't doubt that-" I said, and Lisbet took over.

"I mean talking about feelings. Real feelings, and not just those pertaining to your mate-" Her. "Or other exceptions, like Grey." He glanced at me- like he was trying to judge whether I was worth the effort.

"Oh. Right. Yes, I'm not... great at that." By the way Lisbet was looking at him, I had a feeling that that was quite the understatement. "But as you said, I'm not the only one." He shot Lisbet a look that was just as pointed as it was indulgent, and she huffed out a sigh. To try to quell her frustration, I stepped forward, and bumped my cheek against hers. She let out a surprised little noise at the contact, before leaning into the gesture, draping an arm over my shoulder.

"Hi." She said with a smile, and I gave her one in return.

"Hi." We were quiet for a second, before I quickly scented the side of her face. "We should get going." She made a disappointed noise, now, as she scented me in return, and then stepped back.

"Alright, fine." She said reluctantly, then glanced over her shoulder at Jerremyah, before leaning in again, as if she were telling me a secret. "Keep an eye on him. Just because his wound looks healed, doesn't mean he won't lie about being in pain. Look after him." Even without looking at him directly, I could see him roll his eyes.

"And how, exactly, is he going to tell if I'm lying?" She shot him a dirty look, which he honestly seemed to enjoy.

"Because you're a shi- hgh." She cut herself off with an exasperated groan, as she was hampered by her own language mandate. "Bad liar. You're a bad liar." He quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Sure fooled you, to begin with." What- oh, right. The Deacon thing. She rolled her eyes at him, crossing her arms over her chest, and looking like she'd much rather have her hands on him, instead.

"Because I didn't know what I was looking for- anyway, this isn't the time." He shrugged again, clearly amused by her exasperation.

"You let me know when it is the time, Dearest." He replied, mimicking the way she had called him just that when she had been getting him to tell me about Nuria, and her face screwed up- like she enjoyed his use of it, but didn't want to enjoy it.

"I'll be sure to do that- now go. Scram. Vamoose." She nudged me in the shoulder with the butt of her hand, and I felt a grin grow on my lips.

"Alright, alright, we're going." I reached out, and nudged Jerremyah's shoulder, passing the motion on. "Do you feel good about running there, or do you want to apparate?" His mouth twisted, as he clearly considered the pros and cons.

"I feel fine about running, but I'm not sure how long that will last. So, if something does go... not as planned, I would prefer it to be after we take care of the deer, rather than before. The only way to try to encourage that, is to shorten things on the front end. The only way to do that, is to apparate. But apparating... sucks." That was also a very good point. "I'll defer to your better judgement." I snorted.

"If my judgement is the 'better' option, you know you're really in trouble." Oddly enough, Jerremyah didn't look convinced.

"Depends on the subject." Lisbet said, and I felt my eyebrows furrow.

"I'd like a list- in writing- of the subjects where my judgement being the better option isn't alarming." I hesitated. "Run there, apparate back. That way, we only have to apparate once. If your leg gets tired... well, that's why I'm there, isn't it?" He seemed like maybe he wasn't thrilled with this proclamation, but he appreciated my decision.

"That works, I guess. Okay, let's go." Lisbet ruffled my hair quickly, then stepped back, as if to signal that she was letting me go- it was pointless though, because I followed her. "Where's my goodbye hug?" She huffed out a laugh, that seemed more surprised than amused, and held her arms out wide- Mes Bras Ouverts. In a gross misuse of vampire speed, I threw myself into them, bending at the knees quite severely in order to duck my head under her chin, and pressing myself to her chest. She beat me to wrapping her arms around me, but I was close behind, and when she pressed a kiss to the top of my head, I rubbed the same spot to the underside of her chin. "Such a good hug."

"Well, I'm glad I didn't disappoint you." It felt like there was something more to it than what she was saying, but I didn't know what that could be, so I elected to ignore it. Jerremyah entered my vision, clearly having moved round to the side of us, exclusively to get a better view, and I didn't know what else to do, so... I winked at him. I must have caught him off guard, because he blinked, and I got the barest half second of completely unguarded surprise, before he recovered his wits. His face screwed up, as if he was fighting some sort of internal debate, and then he did what I had expected of him to begin with- he rolled his eyes. He huffed out a sort of amused puff of air, crossing his arms over his chest, and the sound drew Lisbet's attention.

"I think someone's getting impatient, so, I should let you go." I smirked, and shook my head.

"I don't think that's what's happening, but if you insist..." I moved to pull away, but she tugged me back to her in such an insistent way that it forced a laugh out of me. "Lis! You have to let me go eventually!" I whined, making sure she knew I was only joking, as I held onto her just as tightly as she held onto me.

"I'll let you go if you promise to come back." I made a noise in the back of my throat, that was meant to be something like a scoff.

"Are you so sure that you want me back?" She drew back, giving me a sharp look, and I flushed. "Alright, alright, I get it. I'm not the only one with poor judgement, clearly." She rolled her eyes at me, then pressed a kiss to my cheekbone, just under the corner of my eye.

"Don't question my judgement, Nounours. You may not approve of a lot of the decisions I've made, but I have very few regrets." When I glanced at Jerremyah, he was very deliberately avoiding looking at her- maybe he thought he was one of those regrets, but I thought it was more likely that her regrets were centered around the decline of their relationship.

"Which is really the measure of a good life, isn't it?" Lisbet seemed rather pleased by this.

"One of, yes." She glanced at Jerremyah, then squeezed my shoulder. "Alright. Get going. The sooner you leave, the sooner you can come home- not that I want to rush you away, but..." I nodded, and gave her one last squeeze around the waist before moving away.

"I know. Try not to panic this time- I promise, we'll take care of each other."

(A/N): Leo: 'We should get going.'

Lisbet: 'Now go. Scram. Vamoose.'

Leo: 'Okay, let's go.'

Lisbet: 'I should let you go.'

Lisbet and Leo: *refuse to stop hugging*

Translations:

Mes Bras Ouverts = My Open Arms

Nounours = Teddy Bear