(A/N): We're back with Lisbet, Leo, Jerremyah, Greygorry, Danniel, and Jo. This was my first (or really, 1.5) attempt at writing a Valentine's Day chapter, but in the end, it didn't feel 'romantic' enough for me- especially considering it's mostly a recap of the last Ellwood Clan chapter, and focuses less on Lisbet and Jerremyah (AKA, the romantic pairing present) and more on the clan as a whole.

Trigger Warning: Leo is still dissociated.

Lisbet

'You're my favorite little Sunburst'- the words kept playing over and over in my head, worming their way deeper and deeper into my brain with each repetition. This time, we had had to bear witness to the way Leo's eyes had gone blank- the way the awareness left them as though he was sleeping with his eyes open, or worse- before Jerremyah had put his chin on top of Leo's head and used that connection to push our kit's face into his throat. That- That.

The gesture echoed as though it had a sound to it- a substance- but in reality, I thought it just felt that way to me because I was constantly reliving similar gestures in my head; Jerremyah baring his throat to Leo's claws in the early hours of the morning after his nightmare, Leo unintentionally baring his throat to Jerremyah when he had asked to see his blush and then keeping himself in that position on purpose, Jerremyah scraping his beard against Leo's cheek- Jerremyah pressing a kiss to the side of Leo's head, and Leo not only letting him, but leaning into it. It was almost too much to handle, but handle it I must... because Jerremyah was struggling in his own right, and someone had to stay sane- at least for the time being.

I heard Leo release a tiny, quiet sigh into Jerremyah's skin as I approached, and when I pressed myself flush to my mate's back, I could smell the relief and happiness coming off of Leo and the contentment and slight apprehension that Jerremyah was putting out. I hadn't smelled contentment like this on him for a very long time- and even when I had... it hadn't been quite like this. I didn't think it was possible to be able to smell the difference between romantic and familial- paternal- love, even for vampires, but... that was the only thing that came close to matching what I was smelling. I couldn't imagine what Jerremyah might smell like if Leo ever accepted us- accepted him- and his scent wasn't muddled by worrying about the fact that our kit was currently unresponsive.

I made sure to put my mouth to Jerremyah's ear that was on the opposite side to where Leo was, not wanting to disturb him by getting too close, or speaking where he couldn't possibly ignore it. "Should I stay away? How far?" I asked quietly, evenly, not wanting to shock either of them. "Are you-" I hesitated before asking that question, deciding to lean forward to try to get a better look at his face but not getting as much insight from that as I would have liked. "-okay?" He was still and silent for a second before his head tilted so that while his temple was pressed further against Leo's head, his opposite jaw bumped my cheek.

"I don't think you need to worry about staying away," He murmured back, voice soft in a way that made me want to dig my claws into his shoulders; to hold him tight, and never let go. Surely, this softness was brought on by Leo's position in his arms- even if Leo's face hadn't been tucked into Jerremyah's throat to the point where he would be able to feel every rumble of his voice as it came out, I think it would be practically impossible for Jerremyah to speak any louder or more harshly, by virtue of being gentled inside, himself. Gentled by Leo, and the trust he had put in him. "Last time was your fault," He said, and I didn't blame him for saying so, even before he amended himself. "I mean- you were the cause. If anything, I- I." I knew what he meant: That he knew this one had been his doing; worse, in a way, since we had known it was coming, this time. "But I don't think that would be... beneficial." Because Leo had responded so well to him the last time, and clearly wanted to be close to him, considering the fervor with which he was clinging to him. "Or practical." Right, yeah, there was no prying them apart without hurting Leo, even if we had wanted to try to separate the two. "I'm... good." Before I so much as had a chance to question the validity of this statement, he snorted as though he was amused by how surprising he found that fact. "I'm really, really... good."

He sounded good; light. As though a great weight had been removed from his shoulders... a weight I hadn't even known was there. I couldn't help myself, I brought my arms around him from behind and laid my palms flat against his stomach through his jumper at the same time I brushed a kiss against the stubbly hollow of his cheek. I would have preferred to lay a hand over his heart, but given that Leo's body was currently between me and my goal, I settled for the second choice of some other vital organs, instead. "Good," I told him as sweetly as I was able, and I felt him shiver in my embrace; it was barely noticeable but I know I felt it, so I reminded myself not to push things any further, even if I couldn't bring myself to back off. "That's good." I did my best not to purr it, figuratively and literally. "Do you think we should go back to training, or...?" We could wait, but there was no telling how long Leo would be gone- missing; it wasn't like time really mattered to us, but if Leo came back and found us waiting on him, he would be self-conscious... and probably annoyed that we were 'slacking off'. Maybe it was cowardly of me, but I left the choice up to Jerremyah- since he had made it the last time, and Leo would almost certainly go easier on him than he would on me, given the extra length of time he had known me. That I had known him.

"...if you want. You're- I don't think you're the concern here, Lizzy." Meaning that Grey, Danniel, and Jo were the people Leo wouldn't want to stand around watching him zoned out, where he wouldn't really care about me- not after this morning. "Still- it isn't right to leave Grey to train the vamplets all on his own." He sounded unsure about this even as he said it, and Jo and Danniel had opposite reactions to being referred to as 'vamplets'; Jo, of course, hated it- glared and scowled and huffed furiously, as though this was the highest insult... but said nothing, probably because she didn't want to be the one to disturb Leo. Danniel, on the other hand, grinned and preened as though Jerremyah had just paid him the highest compliment- hmm... Luckily or unluckily, Jerremyah seemed completely oblivious to both reactions, and not just because he was focused solely on Leo.

"I don't mind," Greygorry said, which, predictably, Jerremyah did take notice of. "Even if they weren't-" He winced. "-clan-" The word itself seemed to pain him, the overdramatic pillock. "-it is... good practice." Practice. Practice for Dahrya, his daughter. "And... if I'd been more attentive in the first place-" Jerremyah made a noise in the back of his throat and cut Gray off.

"If we're playing that game, then I should be the one training them, Mon Plus Proche." I understood the gist of what they were saying, if not the fine details; Greygorry blamed himself for the twins being turned, at least in part, because he felt he hadn't kept a close enough eye on Jerremyah. Jerremyah, of course, blames himself- a bit more deservedly, I must admit, but no less fruitlessly; guilt wouldn't help the twins now, and like it or not, Grey was probably the best option we had for training them in all things vampire.

Greygorry huffed but didn't argue, and Danniel took this opportunity to tentatively speak up, his voice soft and quiet as though he, too, didn't want to disturb Leo. "What- What was that you said about 'learning to use just our claws'?" He sounded excited by the prospect, which was just so typically Danniel that it made me smile into Jerremyah's cheek. "Do you think- Does Leo know how to do that?" That... was hard to answer. If he did, he had learned it before I had met him- which felt a little young to me- but if he didn't... Rather than give a proper answer I shrugged, which Danniel- being Danniel- didn't take any offense to. "Right. I'll ask him when he's... Well, when he can talk, again." Probably a good call.

"Next, you're going to tell us we can extend our fangs without having to go into Sensory Alert," Jo joked tightly, and after a second of weighty silence, she growled out the expected, "Seriously?!" Her fury mostly slipped away as we all noticed Leo jolt at her growl- and shrink further into Jerremyah's throat, as though for protection. It was obvious, by the lack of other reasonable cause, that Jerremyah's responding purr was an instinctual attempt to put our kit at ease once more... just like it was obvious that it worked, when Leo almost immediately absolutely melted at the sound.

(A/N): Translations:

Mon Plus Proche = My Closest (my best friend, basically, but even closer. This is something I made up, so grammar is probably iffy at best. I've used this before).

Jerremyah calling the twins 'Vamplets' is basically just him taking the term 'kidlet' (which in itself is a combination of the word 'kid' and the diminutive suffix '-let') and making it vampy. Vamp also being a shortened version of vampire that I feel like is probably a pretty casual term of address, and as such, is probably mostly used for vampires who are the same age as the speaker, or most commonly, younger. Hence why Dahrya is known as 'baby vamp' (albeit that is a nickname given to her by the humans, James and Sirius, rather than Leo), which is essentially 'baby baby vampire'. Jo is unhappy about it because she doesn't like Jerremyah in general, and doesn't like the fact that she's a vampire, and especially doesn't like being reminded that Jerremyah made her a vampire- and as such, she's a young, vulnerable, vampire at that. Danniel enjoys it, because again, he's got that hero-worship thing going on, and he grew up without a dad, so he's taking all the 'older male bonding' he can get (especially considering that Jerremyah is his sire, which is just… extra, on top of that). To be fair, he would've called all three of the younger members (Jo, Danniel, AND Leo) vamplets, if Leo had been upright and involved.

The similarity between this chapter's name and the next chapter's was entirely unintentional, they were just the best names that fit. I would've left this disclaimer on the next chapter, so you knew what both names were when I said it, but considering the length of the author's note on that chapter, I thought it would be better to put it here, instead.

I've written chapters 690 and 691, and I'm halfway through 692- or at least, three chapters between 689 and 700, since I'm not sure if they'll be uploaded in the order I wrote them in. I haven't done any more work on that particularly book I was working on, but I have done some precursory work on two OTHER books/series- mostly just lore and naming convention stuff- and managed to edit a few chapters of this story, 167 to 175. I'd been stuck on 167 for a little while (37 days), which is still less than the gap between the two chapters before that (88 days). Thankfully, the next few chapters came pretty easily, although I didn't get to do all that many fun little additions like some previous chapters I edited.