(A/N): Another mostly letter chapter- though it's less letter than some of the other 'mostly letter' chapters, by virtue of some relayed backstory from around the time Cipicia kicked Leo out. Leo reads and reacts to Elaine's letter, and writes a reply.

Leo

I took Elaine's letter up to my room, partly because that's where my writing supplies were, partly as a precaution in case its contents were of a private nature, and partly to avoid anymore teasing from Lisbet and Jerremyah.

I placed Charlie in her cage so she could have a snooze after her strenuous journey, and set out everything I needed before opening the letter.

Dear Leo, it read,

I have some things I want to talk to you about when you get back. Nothing bad (I think), just some things I want to be able to see your immediate reaction to. My mother mentioned some things, is all.

Uh oh.

There were so many things that Audrey could have mentioned to her daughter that would warrant Elaine talking to me- and I hoped the plan was to talk to me, and not to give me a talking to. Just off the top of my head, there was the fact that I had forgotten to mention my father, and when I had told Audrey that Shari probably wouldn't be showing up to help, because she was 'going through something, emotionally'- something Elaine had no idea about, because she didn't know my father was- anyway.

If everyone knows the risks, I suppose there's nothing more I can say about it, other than that I'm EXTREMELY thankful that you are all SO willing to help us.

I had spent hours, over the course of several days, trying to make sure Jo and Danniel had a proper evaluation of the danger a vampire hunter like Tarea would pose- not only to vampires in general, but new vampires like them- but I still wasn't entirely sure I had actually gotten the true scope of the situation across, or whether they'd just gotten sick of listening to me ramble. They'd 'accepted the risk' as soon as they found out, and they'd never stopped accepting it, but Lisbet had started scheduling them shifts in the rotation long before I had felt happy with their view of the situation- probably because she knew I probably never would be 'happy' about it, and we needed the help too badly to be picky.

I wasn't sure whether it would make that much of a difference if I told her Jonothan was your uncle, but I figured I would play it safe, just in case. I also figured that it might make her a bit more protective of you, and considering that YOU'RE supposed to be protecting THEM, that probably isn't the best idea.

I didn't miss the way Elaine wrote, 'more protective'. Audrey was protective of me? I cast my mind back, to her referring to me as 'a nice young man' in a letter to Elaine- which Elaine had felt the need to pass on for her- not to mention how she had held my hand in order to comfort me- about Shari, actually. I suppose it wasn't all that shocking in retrospect to learn that Audrey was exhibiting signs of being protective of me, I just didn't understand why. Maybe the fact that I was the same age as Elaine made her think of her, and compare the two of us? I don't know.

That's what I thought about Lisbet and the window incident as well- what do you mean she was a right mess? I didn't think it was possible for someone to be more awkward than you (ha!). Do you think it was just because of that? Her shoving you through the window, I mean? I can't imagine that's something she would like to be reminded of, given her relationship with you.

Huh? Because of her relationship with me? What was that supposed to mean? I had assumed it was because Lisbet felt guilty for breaking their window, but clearly Elaine thought differently.

You would be okay with me telling Jay? ... I'm not so sure that's a good idea, but it's nice to know you wouldn't mind if I had to tell him for whatever reason. I don't know exactly how he would react- our father drilling those prejudices into us from a young age aside- he'd probably be more concerned with my wellbeing than anything else anyway- which while it might not be that much of an issue with Lisbet, Shari and your father, I think he would likely see it differently when it's you- given our... closeness.

Telling Jay was definitely a last resort, and I thought it would go over best if he heard it from Elaine- and that wasn't just an excuse because I didn't want to be the one to tell him. The fact that she had listed my father meant that she probably hadn't put together her mother telling her that I hadn't mentioned him with him not being- well. Or maybe she had, and she was just keeping appearances until she got me in person- no. Elaine wasn't that conniving. Besides, most people wouldn't jump to the conclusion that someones father was dead, just because they hadn't mentioned them, once.

The fact that Elaine wasn't sure how Jay would react- because their father had 'drilled those prejudices into them from a young age'- made me want to... well, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. Scream? Punch Tarea Hugar in the face? Hug Elaine? Well, I always wanted to hug Elaine, so maybe that wasn't a fair contest. Anyway, Elaine had gotten past those prejudices, she had never once exhibited anything less than the utmost acceptance of my condition- well, except for when she was under Maloney's influence, but that didn't count- but Jay was seven years older, he had spent a lot longer under Tarea's thumb, and I didn't doubt that he had treated them differently, not only because of that, but because of their gender.

In his letter- the first one, the one I had read- Tarea had referred to Elaine as 'my dearest daughter', and he had seemed rather protective of her, adulating, almost... idolizing? I had the feeling that maybe he saw Elaine as a second chance- because he knew he had lost his control of her older brother a long time ago.

I hadn't missed, while we were there, the scars all over Jay. I suspected he hadn't been dressed for visitors- still in a pair of red and green flannel pajama bottoms, and a navy blue t-shirt that had clearly been slept in- and I could see the echoes of old wounds across the skin of his arms, not to mention his face. There were multiple faint lines intersecting both his top and bottom lips, probably indistinguishable to human eyes amongst his stubble, where I expected his lip had been split repeatedly over years of abuse- I could almost picture it. Jay, being told not to talk back to his father- doing it anyway, and suffering the consequences. Maybe standing up for his mother, or baby sister, and getting the brunt of Tarea's fury.

There was an almost invisible line in his right eyebrow, where scar tissue had hindered the growth of hair there, but the surrounding hair had mostly hidden it, and his nose had clearly been broken a few times- and speaking of broken bones, I could tell that at some point, his ulna, one of the bones in his left forearm, had been broken and not quite healed correctly. It seemed to work alright, but the arm wasn't quite straight anymore.

I knew the look, I'd had plenty of bones that hadn't set right- I suppose that was the downside of having such a rapid healing factor- but most of them hadn't stayed set that way for very long, and it was one of the main reasons we had kept a large supply of pain relief potions on hand, ever since my mother had poisoned me.

There had been a lot of bemoaning the fact that my father and Shari had only had two of that particular potion on hand after I had been writhing in agony for days- the two that we had, were the only reason I had been able to get any sleep during the whole incident, other than passing out from the pain- but they had refused to risk running low again, and had stocked up. Certain injuries seemed to hurt vampires a little less- maybe because of the lack of blood flow, I didn't know- so the potions were mainly for my benefit, and the benefit of whoever had been the one to cause my injury, to help reduce their guilt. At this point, breaking one of my bones seemed to be the true initiation requirement for joining the clan, if I'm honest, so I didn't take it personally.

I'd had one bone that had stayed healed the wrong way for months- because it had been the broken bone that had landed me in St Mungo's, when my mother had found out that I wasn't fully human. They'd done their best work to heal my leg, and had completely fixed my broken ankle- much the same way as Madam Pomfrey had healed Elaine's sprained one- but I hadn't exactly been able to keep my weight off of my injured leg after my mother had kicked me out. When I had eventually been convinced to go to the muggle healer, they had been forced to re-break it- the thought had made me uneasy, and had been made even less pleasant by the fact that my increased metabolism made the pain killers they gave me less effective, and wear off more quickly. The upside was that I no longer had to fear a parent breaking one of my bones intentionally- not that my mother had been the one to break my leg.

Mia's favorite hat had been taken by a gust of wind while we had been walking in the gardens, and tangled in the branches of the old oak tree we usually sat under for shade when my mother allowed us to stay outside for long enough to need it. Our governess was having a word with the gardener about the thorns of the rosebushes snagging her dress or something along those lines, and I knew that even if I had told them, she would have scolded me for interrupting and threatened to bring the matter to my mother- and Mia's hat only may have been fetched by the gardener, some hours later, if it had even survived that long.

So, I had climbed the tree.

Even Mia had told me to leave it- she loved that hat, but she knew even if I managed to climb up and get it unscathed, I would undoubtedly be punished for it when the governess inevitably noticed I was gone, and realised I was up the tree. In the end, I hadn't even managed to get her hat back- about halfway up, a branch had snapped under my weight, and I fell roughly fifteen feet. In all honesty, I had been more worried about landing on Mia, or the branch landing on Mia, than my own safety, and I had landed wrong.

The doctors had been confused that a bone I told them had been broken several months earlier, looked like it had been healed the wrong way for a year or two- but they were even more confused, when after they had re-broken it, it had healed the right way in two months, when it was supposed to take three to six. They had removed the cast after six weeks, and been shocked by how good it looked. They had decided to put another cast on, just in case- clearly they didn't want me to break it a third time- and a few weeks later I was cast free. I had been lucky, and it was only my tibia that was broken, instead of both my tibia and fibula, and it was only a oblique fracture, which made the re-breaking, and healing, much easier. It hadn't been pleasant though, and doing it without my sister- without Mia- had been even worse.

Returning to the letter- I was glad that Jay's number one priority was Elaine's safety, even if it made him not like or trust me. I did find Elaine mentioning our 'closeness' a little funny, though. Yeah, we were close- like two peas in a pod, if those peas snogged occasionally, and said they loved each other more often than they'd ever told anyone else.

It doesn't matter that they saw the charm- honestly, I should probably tell them at some point. Remus knows everything, and probably already assumes that the charm was more than just a present, and Lily knows that my father is an abusive wanker, so I should probably tell the others, but... well, you know how it is when you tell someone something like that. I'll probably wait until you get back- for moral support, of course.

I was surprised that Elaine was considering telling the others, but I was proud of her anyway. I was also touched that she wanted me there for moral support, even if I dreaded that conversation almost as much as I'm sure she did. It would be hard to explain everything with Lily around- in fact, there was probably going to be two different iterations of the conversation, one censored for Lily's benefit, and a more involved one for the rest of our friends.

I was glad Remus most likely knew the necklace wasn't a present- not just because it was good that Elaine had someone who knew about her father to talk to while I was gone, but also because I didn't want him to have to endure the romantic side of our relationship when it wasn't actually the reason I had done something. The fact that Elaine had written, 'probably already assumes' made me think that she hadn't told him about the contents of the three letters she had received, or about her father showing up at her house, which was a bit disappointing. I hadn't expected her to tell him, but I had apparently been secretly clinging to that hope- if there was anyone I thought would jump to protect Elaine- other than Jay of course- it was Remus.

Don't get me wrong, James and Sirius would be eager to protect her as well- James had proven that when he had iced me out when I had started dating Brooke- but I knew Remus would kill for her just as I would, and I couldn't be one hundred percent sure she wouldn't need that level of protection at some point.

Have they progressed that quickly? That's impressive- I think? I'm impressed, anyway. Why does Danniel over exert himself? Is it ego, or...?

I wasn't entirely sure whether it was impressive- Herc had said he thought they were above average, so I guess it was a little. I was certainly proud of them, anyway. It wasn't ego that made Danniel overexert himself- I had an idea as to why, but I had never actually asked him... maybe I should.

One of the things I have to ask you is about Danniel, and the way you described him to my mother, by the way.

Ah. Well, at least I knew what one of her questions would be, now- 'Why didn't you mention that Danniel is like a brother to you?' It was a good question. To be honest, I hadn't even really known that I had thought of him that way until I had been trying to figure out what to say- I guess that was my 'inability to confront my emotions', as Lisbet had called it, striking again.

Happy Boxing Day,

Love, Elaine

I felt myself smile, my eyes lingering on, 'Love, Elaine' for a minute before I set about writing my reply letter.

Dear Elaine,

Well, that's not ominous at all. I'll be sure to try to save all of my best reactions for when I see you in person, if that's the case.

I did my best, but I think they all got sick of my pessimistic scaremongering, and Lisbet just put them in the rotation to spite me.

I considered it for a second, then added,

That was a joke- they're perfectly capable, Lisbet wouldn't add them to the schedule if they weren't, and I certainly wouldn't have allowed it.

Hopefully that put her mind at ease, somewhat.

Well, she did tell you she thought I was 'a nice young man', so I guess she has plenty to want to protect!

I joked, before addressing the next issue.

I just figured Lisbet was feeling guilty for breaking your bathroom window- why, what did you think it was?

I was curious to hear Elaine's opinion on the matter, she was definitely way more emotionally intelligent than I was- and probably more intelligent in general, if I was being completely honest.

If I thought Lisbet was struggling when we were at your house, I didn't know what Lisbet struggling looked like. We decided a few days ago- before everything with your family- that we should expand the clan. I asked 'my trainer during the school year'- I never mentioned Greygorry by name because I was worried there might be bad blood there (heh, bad blood), and Lisbet has since ASKED me NOT to tell her who it is, because she has a hunch about who it is- he's coming to the house tomorrow morning, so I'll let you know how it went in my next letter.

Lisbet sent a letter to her 'old friend', Jerremyah- the vampire who brought the Twins to us. Jerremyah also happens to be the most infuriating person in the world- yes, Lisbet has been surpassed, but that's fitting considering I'm pretty sure he's Lisbet's mate. It's a long story- one I'll have to tell you in person, to see YOUR reaction- but to give you the short version:

Jerremyah has horrible self control- hence why we haven't told him about your family- and he turned the Twins. Jo wants to kill him for it, and is mad at Danniel and Lisbet because they had both suspected that that was the case. The last time Lisbet saw Jerremyah, apparently she had told him she never wanted to speak to him again for some undisclosed indiscretion, but is barely managing to stop herself from jumping his bones, despite the rest of us standing right next to them, and doing everything we can to try to dissuade her. She did briefly tear him a new one after I told her that he spat he spat on the floor in disgust about my being a half-breed when he dropped the Twins off, but after he left to get his belongings she calmed down a bit, and went right back to pining after him. Honestly, I've never seen her so pathetic- and before you say anything, I'm sure she would agree that 'pathetic' is the appropriate term.

So, yeah. Jerremyah is part of our clan now, Lisbet wants to screw him, and Jo wants to strangle him. And I want to strangle him. And I think Shari wants to strangle him. I don't think Danniel currently wants to strangle him, but that's probably only because he's on watch in an attempt to avoid Jo strangling HIM. Unfortunately, Jerremyah seems to have a strong neck, so I don't think he's going anywhere anytime soon, but at least we'll have fun trying.

I'm sure Jay would come around, when he realised the main way I use my vampirism is keeping you safe, but it's a last resort, for sure. By the way, are you aware that his left forearm was healed weirdly? I noticed it when I was there- it doesn't seem to be giving him any trouble, and it isn't super obvious, but I thought I'd ask, just in case.

Ah yes, our... closeness. You mean the fact that I love you? Or do you mean the fact that you love me? Or the fact that we're in love with each other?

I couldn't remember if I had ever told her that I was in love with her. That I loved her, yes, but that I was in love with her? I wasn't sure. I had definitely had conversations with Brooke about being in love with Elaine, but Brooke had a way of pushing past all of those barriers, by virtue of just assuming my feelings, and letting me deny it- or not, whichever the case may be.

It was inferred, either way, and if I didn't write it down, I wasn't sure I would be able to say it out loud first, so at least this way Elaine got to hear it- or, well, read it, I guess. And I liked writing it- I really, really liked writing it. Maybe watching Lisbet and Jerremyah had put me in a romantic mood- though they hadn't been very romantic, at least not in any way that I could bring myself to send to Elaine via letter.

If you're willing to tell them, I'm willing to be your moral support. We could always tell Remus everything that's happened over Christmas beforehand, in case you want another person on your side when you tell the whole group everything, but I'm with you no matter what you choose, and I'm proud of you for even considering telling them, because I know how hard it can be.

I had to choose my words carefully for the next part- I couldn't exactly say much about Herc without causing a whole slew of questions to come my way, and, as always, questions were not welcome.

A friend of

I paused. Would Herc be less mad if I called him a friend of Shari's, than a friend of my father's? Him being a friend of Shari's wasn't technically a lie- they seemed to get along well, especially since he had convinced her to consider going back to Colombia with him- and a friend of my father's was technically a lie, since Herc was Nicholai's son too- not that I thought he particularly cared one way or the other what I called him, but it did help assuage some of my guilt about lying to Elaine to be able to think that I wasn't technically lying, so I went with Shari.

A friend of Shari's is currently staying with us as well- he has his own clan in South America, so he won't be joining ours permanently, but he is a fairly trusted ally- and since he has more experience with young vampires, we had him assess how the Twins are coming along while he was here. He said that they were good fighters, and normal or maybe even above average in terms of control. He said he expected vampires of their age to be a lot more unpredictable than they had shown to be- that was just based on me being quarter human though, so I think they're actually doing even better than he thinks, and I'm very proud of them. He was the one that suggested more exposure, which is why I ended up asking you.

It isn't ego. Danniel used to be a little bit more arrogant when he first came to us, but I think at this point Lisbet, Shari and Jo have put him in his place enough throughout a year and a half of training that they've humbled him. Being routinely beaten in a fight by a fourteen or fifteen year old half-vampire hasn't exactly inflated his ego either, but I've been trying to keep them interested in their training and confident in their abilities as much as possible whenever I'm here, which I think helps.

I think Danniel's tendency to overexert himself is, in part, competitiveness with Jo- I think it would be impossible for them not to compare themselves to each other, given the fact that they were turned only days apart, and by the same person, apparently- and something to do with how he grew up. The way you lived as a human has a lot to do with how you end up as a vampire- maybe you knew that, I don't know.

I have a feeling I know what you want to ask me about how I mentioned Danniel to your mother, but as per request, I'll leave that subject until when is see you in person.

I hesitated for a split second, before writing my sign off.

I'm in love with you,

Leo

(A/N): Elaine: *writes 'Love, Elaine'*

Leo: *stares at it with heart eyes for a full minute*

Elaine: *writes 'our... closeness'*

Leo: 'We're as close as two peas in a pod. Two peas that are in love with each other.'

Leo: 'Hmm, I like saying that I'm in love with Elaine. Must be something in the air.'

Leo: *writes 'I'm in love with you' as his sign off*