(A/N): Another 'mostly letter' chapter.

Elaine

Dear Elaine,

My mother didn't usually address me as 'dear', at least not via letter, but maybe she was trying to show that she wasn't so mad at me that the affection was lost.

As long as everyone is aware of the risk, and is happy to accept it, I guess there's nothing I can really say to convey my apprehension about their involvement. I don't suppose we have much of a choice, however.

We really didn't, but even if we did, I wouldn't begrudge Leo his involvement- and I couldn't imagine how overprotective he would be if he knew what was going on, but I refused to let him help.

I had figured that he was at least partially human, funnily enough- even if I hadn't seen him aging from afar over the past few years, I may have checked his pulse while I was holding his hand during his visit.

Oh. My. God. She had checked Leo's pulse? I was so telling him about that, just to be able to witness his inevitably awkward reaction.

You were attacked by a vampire? At home? Where were Jay and I? How did Leo find you, if this was before they started monitoring us?

To be honest, he had never quite explained how he knew I was in danger, and how he had arrived in time to rescue me from Jonothan's clutches.

Leo forced a full blooded vampire away from you and made him leave, at thirteen years old? Is that what I'm hearing? If he's fifteen now, and you said that was two and a half years ago, that would make him thirteen at the time, right?

Uh oh. I had hoped my mother hadn't had enough exposure to the abilities of vampires to be able to tell that Leo was, even by vampire standards, a bit of an anomaly, but apparently I wasn't that lucky.

It's unfortunate that Jay has been suspicious of Leo this whole time, but given the circumstances, I can't say I blame him. Of course, if you had been honest with us from the start, that misunderstanding would have been rectified long before now.

And here comes the guilt trip.

Has he sat on our lounge set before? Because he seemed quite uncomfortable sitting there.

I tried to picture Leo sitting on our sofa, across from my mother as she held his hand- and used that opportunity to check his pulse, apparently- but I just couldn't imagine it. The fact that she felt the need to mention it, however, was kind of funny to me.

Vampires attacked the house more than once? Elaine... I can understand wanting to protect your friends' secret, but when it risks putting your family in danger, you HAVE to tell us. What if they had gotten past Leo, and into the house? As it was, a boy who was barely a teenager was shoved through our bathroom window, and forced to protect our family with his very life, even with a shard of glass sticking out of his side, while two out of three members of out family were none the wiser.

I... honestly, it hadn't quite hit me that Leo had been so young at the time- we certainly hadn't felt that young when it had happened, and I hadn't thought that deeply about it recently, but clearly, my mother was going to take it upon herself to try to make me reconsider the choices I had made in the past.

Elaine... I could not, physically, care less about what happened to the missing towel- especially if it was ruined in the process of you trying to soak up that poor boys blood.

Oof, there was that pity Leo was infamously so vehemently against in the past. Hopefully my mother was keeping those 'poor boy' thoughts close to her chest around Leo, or there was bound to be hell to pay. Then again, if there was anyone who might be able to go toe to toe with Leo in a misguided battle of the wills, it was my mother.

I admit that I'm surprised to hear that Lisbet has only been with them for a couple of years- not that I truly believed either of them when they told us she was his aunt, neither of them were even the slightest bit convincing about that- but they seemed quite close, closer than I would think they would typically be after that long.

Lisbet calling Leo her 'little boy' in her letter flashed up in my mind.

It's funny, Leo didn't mention his father much when he was talking about his family- maybe because he didn't want to bring up the subject of fathers? Also, when he was telling us who we should expect to show up if we have to activate the emergency charms, and he mentioned that Shari was unlikely to show up, because she is 'going through something' right now. I didn't want to ask for clarification on the subject, it seemed rude to do so, but I did offer my sympathies, hopefully that was the appropriate thing to do.

Um, what? Hello? This was the first I was hearing about this. What was Shari 'going through'? Was it to do with what had happened over the summer, that was making Leo act all strange? I'd have to ask him about it- preferably in person, where he had less time to think up a believable lie.

Why is this Jonothan person so persistent about attacking them? You said it was because of Leo being only half vampire, but it must be more than that, surely?

Yeah, it's because he's his uncle, and for some reason about fifty percent of Leo's biological family members are obsessed with trying to kill him- not that I could possibly explain that to her.

And Danniel is the one Leo said is like a brother to him?

He said what now?

I had no idea that Leo and Danniel were so close- was this a new development, or had I just missed it somehow? Or had Leo purposefully hidden the nature of their relationship from the rest of us for whatever reason?

That's very nice of him, please thank him for Jay and I as well, if you get the chance... Leo did mention that Danniel and Jo are only a few years older than him, so I assume they are fairly newly turned, are they... safe? I mean, I presume with how Leo has conducted this situation so far, they wouldn't be involved in the first place if he didn't trust them with our safety, but as a mother, I HAVE to ask if I'm going to be able to sleep a bit easier at night.

Well considering that Leo had requested my help to continue with the Twins exposure training, maybe it wasn't the most outrageous thing to be a little apprehensive about their involvement. What would happen if my father hit Jay hard enough to split his lip- again? Would the Twins stop my father, or would they get sidetracked by the spilt blood? Would the Twins be more of a threat to my family's health than my father, who they were trying to defend against?

They're letting Leo 'call the shots'? Not that I don't think he's capable- he seems responsible, and level headed, and empathetic to our situation, but thats still a bit odd, isn't it? I mean, I don't know how old his clan mates are, but I'm guessing that, since he felt the need to specify that Jo and Danniel are only a few years older than him, the others are quite a bit older- Are they truly content to take orders from a teenager?

Well, Leo's father was willing to listen to Leo, and the others listened to him, so as long as Leo's dad was alive, it was a non-issue.

Elaine. From this point on, you tell me if something potentially dangerous comes up. It doesn't matter how you think I will feel about it, I want nothing more than for you to be safe. If you want to visit your male friends one on one, that's fine, as long as there's an adult chaperone around- not that I suspect that will have much effect on how you and Leo choose to see each other.

I could practically feel the side eye. Yeah, kind of hard to force a chaperone on a half vampire, even if my mother knew every time Leo and I were planning to spend time with each other- which, to be fair, I usually didn't have much forewarning for either.

Even though he assured us that he would rather cut off a limb than hurt you-

Merlin, what kind of conversation did they have?

There are plenty of ways a boy can hurt a girl without ever raising a hand to her, and while I think Leo is the good sort- and I have quite a bit of experience with the WRONG sort, as you know- I would hate to be proven wrong, especially when your wellbeing is at stake.

I love you with all my heart, my darling daughter,

Audrey (mum)

(A/N): Audrey: Tells Elaine she checked Leo's pulse.

Elaine: ~'Look at me and this opportunity, is standing right in front of me.'~

also

Elaine: 'Here comes the guilt trip.'

Audrey: 'Has Leo sat on our couch before? He looked quite awkward.'

also

Elaine: 'As long as Leo's father is alive, it's a non-issue.'

Nicholai: *dead silence*