(A/N): We're back with Lisbet, Leo and Jerremyah. Friendly reminder that since I post every second day, and the last chapter for July was on the 31st, you should now expect a chapter every EVEN date this month and next month, instead of odd numbers. So after this, the next chapter will upload on 4/8/23.

Lisbet

It warmed my cold, dead heart to hear Leo claim that being normal was overrated, because I knew how much trouble he had accepting what he was- who he was, even. I had a feeling that issue was fated to get worse before it got better, but at least we were taking steps toward healing his complicated emotions around vampirism- even if he didn't seem to have much of a problem with vampirism, when he wasn't the vampire in question.

"Do you really think..." He hesitated, and I smoothed my thumbs across his cheekbones, reveling in the feeling of blood rushing beneath his skin as he blushed. "Do you think the others would want to... to be 'other, other'? It's not always... pleasant." Oh, Leo... always thinking about other people.

"My sweet boy," His flush only got more intense. "It doesn't matter how 'not pleasant' it may be, we'd all do anything for you." His eyebrows furrowed and he was silent for a moment, before his face went slightly slack- like he was trying to play relaxed, but wasn't quite able to pull it off.

"Even Greygorry? You know, I think he might say that he has better things to do with his time." I pinched his cheek as lightly as possible, the only physical 'reprimand' I could give him, since I knew that words wouldn't work.

Luckily, Jerremyah spoke up before I could; shrugging loosely like none of this meant anything more than a discussion about the weather to him- which was such an outrageous lie, but I think that's what Leo needed right now. "I've gotten Grey into a whole host of much more unpleasant things- rescuing Lisbet from the stake being one of them." I shot him the most deadly, icy, furious look I could muster, but he merely winked at me.

"What the f-" My eyes flicked to Leo as I bit my tongue, then returned to Jerremyah. "-funky loving, is going on in your head to make you just come out and say something like that?" I saw Leo blink heavily out of the corner of my eye, even as Jerremyah shrugged again- looking supremely unbothered. If I'd thought that Leo had been characteristically unbothered earlier, then Jerremyah was perpetually, intrinsically unbothered. At least about things like this.

"Okay," He said it so simply that it almost felt like he was replying to something else- like another question had been asked in between mine and his answer. "First of all, I would like to draw your attention to his reaction- or lack thereof." I blinked, then glanced at Leo- who was staring back at me with the most innocent, but also shockingly unsurprised face imaginable. Not that I thought the innocent part was unique to this particular situation, but still.

"Hi," He said softly, like he was trying not to startle me. "I can pretend I didn't hear him, if you want me to." It was automatic, my head shaking, but I didn't regret it. He shouldn't need to pretend, just to make me happy- even in something as relatively meaningless as this.

"No. It's not-" I sighed quietly, trying to figure out the best way to quell the concern that was evident on his face. "It's a bit darker of a story than I would typically choose to tell you, but I don't have a problem with you knowing. I just hope Jerremyah did the whole thing justice." I shot the man in question a pointed look, and I knew by the way he was avoiding my eyes that he knew he hadn't.

"To be fair, he didn't tell me much about the stake thing, other than the fact that it happened. Assuming we're talking about the same thing, that is." Leo said, arching an eyebrow at me as if daring me to either deny it, or blatantly confirm it. In the end I chose neither option, and instead turned to Jerremyah.

"I would say that there's only one option that Jerremyah would bring up, but I suppose I wouldn't have expected him to bring this one up either, so..." I shrugged, and I knew that they could both tell, despite my best efforts, that I was only pretending to be relaxed about the whole thing.

"It's a long story as to why, but it felt necessary at the ti-" Jerremyah tried to make excuses for himself, but luckily, Leo cut him off before he had a chance to make things worse for himself.

He tilted his head to the side, looking almost morbidly fascinated. "Were they really going to try and burn you at the stake?" He wasn't quite bouncing with excitement, probably only because I was the person involved, but he was clearly most interested- like he was hearing a first hand account of a story from history that he'd heard a thousand times before, but only ever passed down by word of mouth. I shot Jerremyah a look, and I think the wince he gave in reply was sign enough that he knew I would get back at him for this later.

Maybe it said something unsavory about our relationship, but it felt good to be mad at him like this. Before we'd broken up, he'd been... doting. Almost too doting. Like he cared about nothing but making me happy, at the expense of his own personality- because he felt like his personality couldn't possibly bring me happiness. Fighting was part of our relationship; the challenge is part of what brought us both satisfaction. There was a give and take, and it made sure we didn't take any real arguments too seriously- until we had. It was only when he'd taken that away that our relationship had begun to suffer- but... if Grey's theory was right, maybe I was wrong about that. Maybe he'd already been unhappy, ever since we'd finally had our discussion about having a kit. I... I could only guess that Khal's prediction about us finding a kit- if that's what it had even meant- hadn't been the most helpful thing in the world.

"If that's what you're choosing to ask, then Jerremyah really didn't do it justice." Leo's face lit up, and he actually did give a single bounce before he managed to reign himself back in- what a shame. "It's a long story, and it doesn't have anything to do with how I came by my nickname. I know you're excited to hear it, but do you think you could wait a bit? Just until tomorrow?" His face fell slightly and I almost launched into the whole tale right then and there, warts and all. Then, a look of pure determination came across his face, and he nodded firmly.

"Of course I can wait until tomorrow- it's only tomorrow, after all." I pulled his face down, using my hands on his cheeks so I could kiss him on the top of the head, just beyond his hairline.

"Thank you, Nounours." Now, where were we...? "Grey isn't exactly normal himself- and even if he's technically still Sidonie's, he wouldn't have bothered joining your clan just to please her." Leo's eyes flicked sideways to Jerremyah, and I knew that he had more information on the subject than he probably should- what, exactly, had Jerremyah decided to tell him? Wait... was that why he'd been surprisingly against it, when Jerremyah had suggested that Grey would be a better role model for him? He had said, 'after everything you told me about him'- and I was constantly being shocked by how much Jerremyah had been willing to tell him- so all bets were off, really.

"I hear he'd do a lot in order to please her." I rolled my eyes, and let out the longest, most drawn out sigh I could manage. When I opened my eyes again, I could see that it'd had the intended affect- Jerremyah looked sheepish, and Leo was grinning, which was always the desired outcome.

"But not this. He could be cajoled into it, I'm sure, but not if he wasn't already inclined. Grey is a particularly stubborn soul," I cocked an eyebrow at Leo rather pointedly, and he blushed again- like I'd figured he would. I could have directed it at Jerremyah- they were both just as stubborn as each other- and I was fairly sure it would have gotten me a snort or maybe even a small laugh, but... it was so easy to make him blush, and it was so, so worth it. "If he doesn't want to do something, you can't make him. Fortunately," I continued, and I didn't feel bad about giving away trade secrets, because I knew Leo wouldn't abuse them. Much. "He can be convinced. He's highly logical, so if you can prove that your idea is the better one, he'll be more than happy to help. So no- even if Grey was normal, he chose to be here... and I think, more than anything else, you need to learn to respect that."

(A/N): Lisbet: 'I could make Leo laugh, or I could make him blush.'

Jerremyah: 'Both great options.'

Lisbet: 'Yeah, I know. Hm, what to do, what to do...'

Jerremyah: 'Tell you what- divide and conquer. You make him blush, I'll make him laugh. Deal?'

Lisbet: 'Deal.'

Leo: *already blushing and giggling to himself in the corner for practically no reason*

also

Leo: 'Did they REALLY try and burn you at the stake?'

Lisbet: '...try?'

Lisbet: *glances at Jerremyah*

Jerremyah: 'Yeah, I thought it might go over better if YOU told him that part.'

Lisbet: '...that's probably fair.'

also

Lisbet, in 424: '(...) and Leo looked so bloody proud of himself that I legitimately felt something in my chest thawing after what felt like years... maybe even centuries.'

Lisbet, in this chapter: 'It warmed my cold, dead heart to hear Leo claim that being normal was overrated.'

also

Lisbet: 'It doesn't matter how 'not pleasant' it may be, we'd all do anything for you.'

Leo: 'Anything? ...I don't like that. 'Anything' is too open ended- if you don't put limits, then you don't really mean it, because nothing is limitless, not even love.'

Lisbet: 'I don't know, it certainly FEELS limitless.'

also

Jerremyah: *casually mentioning Lisbet almost being burned at the stake*

Lisbet: * 0.o *

Lisbet: 'What the f- funky loving, is going on in your head to make you just come out and SAY something like that?'

Leo: 'Ha, nice! Adding that to the list of things I'm apparently allowed to say to get past Lisbet's censors, considering that SHE said it.'

Translations (French):

Nounours = Teddy Bear

Also, Lisbet correcting herself and saying 'funky loving' instead of 'fuck' was inspired by my mother, who tried to send me a message saying 'come get the fucking pussy' (because my cat was incessantly meowing outside their door for minutes on end, very loudly) but it autocorrected to 'funky pussy'. When she said it autocorrected, I really didn't expect it to be the 'funky' part that had been affected, but there you go. I didn't see the message until an hour later, when my cat was already sitting right next to me.