(A/N): More information on Jerremyah and Lisbet's break up, and basically insight as to why Jerremyah has been acting the way he has been since he came to join the clan. This chapter was supposed to be after the next one, but because I added the bonus Valentine's Day chapter (335: St Vampentine's Day), I had to move this one to be first, or it would no longer be the 342nd chapter, which is integral, considering the name.

Lisbet

Jerremyah and I shared an equally disbelieving and suspicious look before I managed to find my voice again.

"What do you mean, 'Sidonie made a promise'? Who did she make a promise to?" Grey opened his mouth to answer me, but before he could say anything, Jerremyah felt the need to interrupt him with a question of his own.

"And why? Sidonie isn't exactly the charitable sort-" Greygorry looked like he wanted to take offence to that on her behalf, but found that he couldn't. "She doesn't just run around making promises, granting favors." Even Greygorry couldn't argue with him on that front.

"She wouldn't tell me, but-" Jerremyah cut him off before he could say much else.

"And you did it anyway? Are you so dedicated to her that you would do whatever she tells you to?" Greygorry's eyes darted to me rather pointedly, and Jerremyah blushed- legitimately blushed. I tried to fool myself into attributing this to him being flushed with anger, but I could only lie to myself so much. "Without question, without real instruction, without mutual trust and respect-" The growl that tore it's way out of Grey's throat was predictable- and honestly, probably overdue.

"Just because you don't understand the dynamic of our relationship, doesn't mean it's any less valid than yours." Jerremyah scoffed, and I felt my fury rising up the back of my neck like a physical being.

"'Any less valid'? She treats you like an instrument- she knows exactly what notes to hit to get you to do exactly what she wants. You may be her favorite, but you are not her mate- and I think we all know you never will be." Oh, fuck. That was a low blow- and one I never would have expected Jerremyah, of all people, to throw.

"You-" I cut Greygorry's growled out retort off before it could really begin, offering one of my own.

"You talk a big game for a man who drove his own mate away by being an overprotective, hardheaded- gobshite." Jerremyah blinked, looking surprised and... hurt, but Greygorry just sneered at him.

"See? Even Lisbet's tired of your shit." Uh oh. I felt like this was almost as low of a blow as Jerremyah's had been, considering the way he flinched.

"Enough." Both of them turned to look at me. "Jerremyah, you've been out of hand this entire time- if you can't hold your tongue, you should leave." His face dropped, and I rushed to amend my statement. "Just- down to the kitchen." His head lifted again, watching me way more carefully that I felt was needed. "Maybe try to talk to Jo- no, that's not a good idea, especially not right now. Um... Ask Herc! Ask Herc if he wants to train! Yeah, Herc's a much safer option if you're in a mood." He hesitated, glancing back at Greygorry, as if trying to mentally calculate whether he'd be able to keep his currently volatile temper in check- and evidently ultimately deciding that he couldn't.

"I- I'll... do that." He moved towards the door, but paused with his hand on the knob, glancing back at us. "Be careful." He told me, eyeing Greygorry pointedly- who huffed out a bitter laugh.

"Wow, ten minutes of conversation undermines three hundred and forty two years of friendship- who knew?" Jerremyah very conspicuously gritted his teeth- obviously trying to keep his temper under lock, for my benefit. I reached out and gently rested my hand on his forearm- the one that's hand was on the doorknob.

"I'll be fine- Grey isn't going to hurt me." Jerremyah looked like he hated doubting me- hated having to doubt Greygorry, but couldn't help but to do so, given the situation we had found ourselves in. "And on the off chance that he tries, I'll tear him apart, just like you taught me to." The corner of his mouth twitched up, and none of us were dumb enough to bring up the fact that, while Jerremyah had been teaching me how to tear someone apart, Greygorry had been right by his side- helping him to do so.

As it was, Jerremyah turned to hold Greygorry's gaze with his own, and said, "It's only because of those three hundred and forty two years of friendship that I'm taking the risk of leaving her alone with you- don't make me regret it." Greygorry merely stared at him for a second, before he gave him a nod that looked like it weighed tonnes.

Jerremyah finally turned his gaze back to me, cracked a frighteningly fragile grin, and threw me a wink.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do- and don't have too much fun without me." And with that, he disappeared into the hallway, pulling the door shut behind him- likely so he didn't have time to reconsider. I quickly reactivated the privacy charm,, and whirled around to face Greygorry.

"The next time you two use me as ammunition in your pissing contest, I'm punching you both in the balls so hard you're going to be burping up your own baby smoothie!" Greygorry's face screwed up, looking half disgusted, and half impressed by the creativity of my hissed threat.

"He started it!" It was true, but I had no patience for Greygorry's whined excuses.

"And what was that all about, by the way? I've never seen you two like that before- at each others throats." The only times throats had been involved in the past, it had been in a completely different context- and Greygorry hesitated to answer my question.

"Lis..." I cocked an eyebrow at him. "You- You." Vague. A little more information would be nice.

"Me, what?" He gave me a particularly dry look, like it was dreadfully obvious, and I should already know exactly to what he was referring.

"Lis. Think about the things you said in that conversation that hurt him the most." Me? I hadn't said much, just- Oh. Oh.

"Me leaving- it affected him, didn't it?" Now, it was Greygorry's turn to cock an eyebrow at me.

"That was the goal, wasn't it?" I- Yes, but- No.

"I wanted him to change- to remember that we were equals, to go back to treating me the same way he always has, not to- to hurt him. To... break him." Greygorry took a few steps closer to me, so he could wrap a comforting hand around my forearm.

"You didn't break him- I don't think it's possible for someone like Jerremyah to be broken." But we both knew Jerremyah wasn't as strong as he made himself look- and that if anything could break him, it was me.

"But he's... been like this, the whole time? This is what you've been having to deal with?" Greygorry hesitated again, and I wasn't sure whether it was because I was right, or because I was really, really wrong.

"...No. He's been... sullen, and snappish, and... Dieu, Lis, he's been heartbroken-" Which is quite possibly the most devastating thing Greygorry could have said to me. "But not- he hadn't been... like this." So why was he like this? Was it just the perceived betrayal? But Jerremyah wasn't the one who should be feeling betrayed by Greygorry ferrying information about Leo back to Sidonie, I was. So why had Jerremyah been the one to blow his lid?

"So why-?" Greygorry cut me off with an almost pitying look.

"Lis. Think about this for a second." I have, and nothing lines up with the Jerremyah I knew!

"Grey. Help me out here- I don't have the patience for mind games." Greygorry rolled his eyes at me, but it lacked any heat whatsoever.

"He just got you back, his mate- it doesn't matter if you're not officially back together, we all know you're going to forgive him eventually-" I wish I could say I wasn't that predictable, but sadly, I was. "As long as he can pull his head out of his arse long enough to win you back, that is." Well, at least Grey was giving me that much credit. "So, he's by your side again, and he finds you've adopted-" My sharp look made him correct himself. "Fine. That you're mentoring a kid- which is something he's always wanted to share with you, but you've never been able to justify- morally- so he gave up on planning for it." What did Leo have to do with this?

"What does Leo have to do with this?" Greygorry looked at me like I was being daft, which he almost never did.

"Everything. This has everything to do with Leo." Well... At least this didn't seem to be deadly, like most things concerning Leo were. "Jerremyah wants a kit- specifically, he wants a kit with you- desperately. You tell him you don't want a kit, because the morals of it are... complicated. Jerremyah becomes more protective over you, because you are all he has, and all he will ever have-" Wait- Was that-?

"Is that something Jerremyah told you, or are you just psychoanalyzing our relationship, again?" Greygorry gave me a pointed look- pointed like a blade- which, to me, clearly said, 'You two think you're so complicated, but you don't know the meaning of the word.'

"Please. Jerremyah finally gets reunited with his mate, ready to do whatever it takes to get her back- to get you back. But when he sees you again, he finds you... with kit."

"No." His smirk was clearly one he had picked up from Jerremyah, and it hurt to see it in this context.

"Fine. 'With a kit of your own'- better?" Not much better, but it certainly hurt my heart a little less. "And suddenly, he's presented with everything he's ever wanted- the woman, the child... the family he never had, but yearned for- So. Badly." Oh. Maybe Jerremyah's outbursts made more sense than I had previously thought.

"...Continue." Greygorry knew he had my full attention now.

"And then- one of his oldest, most trusted friends shows up- someone he's leant on with all of his weight during some of the lowest points of his life- only to reveal that he's been delivering information about the child he didn't know was so important to his two best friends-" He speared me with a genuinely apologetic look, at this part. "Back to his... my, Maîtresse." If Greygorry was looking to me for forgiveness, he was asking the wrong person.

"I'm not the one you'll have to apologise to." Grey hesitated, then nodded.

"I'll explain everything to Jer, when he-" I cut him off, throwing him a truly pitying look.

"I wasn't talking about Jerremyah- I was talking about Leo. He is, after all, the one you've been spying on."

(A/N): Lisbet: 'Greygorry, could you stop being so cryptic?'

Greygorry: 'What, do you want me to spell it out for you? Maybe give an interpretive dance?'

Lisbet: 'That's perfect, thanks!'

Greygorry: '...' *rolls eyes*

also

Lisbet: *trying to find someone to send Jerremyah to hang out with while he's in his bad mood*

Lisbet: 'God, why does nobody who lives in this house have even the slightest bit of chill?'

Herc: *exists*

Lisbet: 'Ask Herc if he wants to train! Yeah, Herc's a much safer option!'

Herc: *regrets*

Translation:

Dieu = God. (As in, 'God, Lis, he's been heartbroken-')

Also, I thought it was incredibly ironic that when I had to calculate how long Greygorry and Jerremyah have been friends, it came out to 342 years- and this is chapter 342. Greygorry was turned in 1623, and in chapter 334 (Sweet Like Honey) Lisbet says that Greygorry had been a vampire for only ten years when he and Jerremyah met, which means they met in 1633. 1975 - 1633 = 342. That honestly wasn't planned, and I think that level of coincidence is amazing.