(A/N): We're back with Jerremyah, Lisbet and Leo in 1975. An alternative title for this chapter was 'Never Metter', which is a joke you will understand by the end of this chapter, and is a play on the phrase 'never better'.
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Jerremyah
There was personally no doubt in my mind that Grey would ever ask to leave Sidonie's service. To pull away, or attempt to distance himself, sure- but he'd never grasp the nettle and actually ask her. No, Grey wasn't that forthright- not with his Maîtresse, at least. I couldn't say whether that was because he couldn't imagine life outside of the one she'd granted him, or if it was simply because he, too, assumed she would deny his request, but either way, I didn't think it would be happening any time soon. He'd been with her for close to three and a half centuries- if he hadn't left yet, chances are, he never would. Or at least... he wouldn't be the one to call it quits.
I watched Lisbet grimace. "I wouldn't say never, but..." But she agreed with my assessment of the situation. "Who knows, maybe this could be the kick in the teeth he needs." I didn't think so, but I loved her optimism.
"If he didn't leave Sidonie's service for Lavinia the last time, I don't see why things would be any different this time." Her eyebrows furrowed slightly, but it did nothing to minimise the fondness in her eyes.
"Really? You can't see it?" ...should I? Her tone made me think so. "You, of all people, I would expect to have taken note of it." I- what? What did she mean, me 'of all people'? "This has very little, if anything, to do with Lavinia. Lavinia as a person, at least." O... kay? No, nope, I was completely at a loss.
"Lisabetta... while you know your voice is my favorite of all the sounds in the world, I'm going to need you to be a little more obvious with what you're trying to say. I'm afraid my Lilamoya interpretation skills are a little rusty." Her face softened, and it made me want to kiss her cheeks until my lips went numb.
"He wasn't a father, last time."
...ah. Suddenly, Lisbet's 'you of all people' made sense. Painful sense, but sense nonetheless. "I don't... know if that kind of thing is as important to Grey as it is to some people." I specifically said 'to some people', rather than 'to me', or even 'to you', because I wasn't sure how much of our conversation Leo was absorbing right now, and if he hadn't picked up on it already, then I certainly wasn't going to be the one to tell him. Lisbet hesitated for a second, looking unsure for the first time.
"I suppose he's always been a bit... well, his motivations have always been a little... unorthodox." And wasn't that saying something, considering the type of 'motivations' vampires like us tended toward on a regular basis? I shrugged.
"His motivations are a mystery... until they aren't, at which point they become an enigma." The corner of her lips lifted, and my spirit followed. "I don't know how he feels about the girl, we should-"
"Dahrya." I blinked, once at being interrupted, then again as I realised it was Leo who had done so. When after a few seconds he'd said nothing more, I gently prodded- verbally, of course.
"What?" I asked, purposefully keeping my voice calm and quiet, but also as light as possible, seeing as I knew from personal experience that 'calm' didn't always mean 'non-threatening'.
I felt movement against my chest, and it took me a second to recognise that he was shrugging. "'ser name." And a further few seconds to interpret that- hopefully correctly- as, 'it's her name'.
"...okay." I agreed as easily as I could, before forging on. "Are you trying to tell me you want me to call her by her name?" Movement against my shoulder now, as he nodded. "Is this kind of like when you insisted we use your grandmother's name?" I saw the look of almost desperate interest on Lisbet's face, shortly before Leo hesitantly nodded again. "Alright, I'll use her name from now on, but... would you mind if I explained why I didn't use it in the first place?"
Everything was still and silent for a minute as Leo apparently deliberated, and Lisbet and I waited patiently to let him to do so. It was important to us to give him whatever time he needed- and since time was one thing we had in surplus, it was one of the easier needs to fulfill- especially since it was something I highly doubted he'd been allowed, growing up. I don't know if that was quite the reason Lisbet was doing it- she almost certainly had her own reasons that I couldn't even begin to comprehend- but if time was what he needed, then time was what he'd get. His chin bobbed on my shoulder again, and I fought the urge to breathe a sigh of relief, in case he took as a sign of me being frustrated with how long he'd taken. To be honest, time tended to pass quickly when nothing was catching our attention, and I'd spent most of it trying to ignore how much I enjoyed the feeling of holding him in my arms.
"I've never met her," I started bluntly, which- was there any other way I knew how to start? "She's never introduced herself to me, or been introduced to me in person. She's my best friend's daughter, and the only reason I know she exists is because you told me about her. It feels odd for me to talk about her by name, when technically, I shouldn't even know it." Silence. "If you want me to use it, I'll use it- there's no point dancing around it and calling her something else, I suppose- I just want you to know that I didn't call her that in the first place only because it's not something that comes natural to me."
More silence. Then- "So... are we going to keep talking about Grey's love life, or is now a good time to pivot to asking to hear more about your grandmother?" I felt Leo bodily wince, and immediately rushed to help Lisbet move away from the subject as quickly as possible. "Not a good time, then-"
"Never met her." I quipped a little loudly, and Lisbet blinked. Then she blinked again, and when her eyes opened this second time, they were slightly narrowed, like she was trying to figure out what I was doing before I had the chance to spring it on her, and induce that inevitable eye roll.
"...what?" She asked finally, somewhat stiffly, and I grinned at her, knowing I'd won. One million, nine hundred and thirty-one thousand, five hundred and twelve to Jerremyah, one million, seven hundred and sixty-one thousand, six hundred and thirty-one to Lisbet. Or... maybe since we'd- separated, we should... start over. Start the counter again? One to Jerremyah, zero to Lisbet? A completely clean slate hurt to think about, but maybe it was for the best, in the end- we'd been running out of room on the chalkboard.
"You asked to hear more about my grandmother, and I said I've never met her, since I haven't. I never met either of my grandmothers- well." I winced and shrugged. "I've never knowingly met either of my grandmothers." Lisbet stared at me like she was trying to decide whether I was dumb enough to genuinely think she'd been asking about my grandmother, rather than Leo's, and honestly looked as though she might regret having asked me to clarify, but when I winked at her, she sagged slightly with relief.
"That's... awful?" She sounded uncertain, which I preferred vastly to her typical attempts to comfort or console me. I didn't need consoling- especially not on this subject- I didn't care that I'd never had a family, because what I'd lacked in a proper biological family, I'd eventually made up for it with an unbelievably incredible mate, a fantastic best friend, and a supportive clan. I'd traded a blood family for a blood family, so to speak. Although... I suppose I'd technically left that clan now, in order to join this one, but... well, maybe I could be just as happy in this clan as the last one. After all, this one was the one with Lisbet in it- and to be honest... the boy in my arms was almost as much as an incentive to stay as she was.
I hadn't cared about not having a biological family for a long, long time, but I'd always... I was haunted by the thought that I might never get to have a family of my own. A family to call my own. I had a mate, yes, for whom I was eternally grateful, whether we were together or not- but we'd never been blessed with a kit, not matter what Khal had predicted. I tightened my arms around Leo- or had we... and it had taken falling apart, for things to get better?
(A/N): Jerremyah knows! He's figured it out! That single-digit number of brain cells have finally bounced into the correct position, and we're so proud of him for it!
Translations (French):
Maîtresse = Mistress.
Info:
Lilamoya/LiLaMoYa = Lilamoya is the acronym/abbreviation of Lisbet's name, so Li(sbet)La(yla)Mo(rsol)Ya(tes). I chose to write it as one word rather than making it clear that it was an abbreviation because one, it looked whack, and two, I figure at this point it's become its own thing to Jerremyah. It's basically just Jerremyah's way of referring to things that are uniquely Lisbet, at least in his eyes.
The numbers given when Jerremyah jokingly calculates how many times he's 'won' with Lisbet, are their birth dates. One million, nine hundred and thirty-one thousand, five hundred and twelve is 1,931,512 written numerically. 19/3/1512 is the day Jerremyah was born. One million, seven hundred and sixty-one thousand, six hundred and thirty-one is 1,761,631, written numerically. 17/6/1631 is the day Lisbet was born. The actual numbers are a little off, because I think they'd be a lot closer, and my first instinct is to say that Lisbet would be in the lead, but that isn't the case here, since the numbers are (joking) estimates from Jerremyah's head.
I was originally going to have Jerremyah say that Greygorry would never 'bite the bullet' and ask to leave Sidonie, and then I started searching for a different way to say it, since it didn't really felt like it fit Jerremyah and the way he speaks, and I found the phrase 'grasp the nettle', which is in a similar vein to 'bite the bullet'. While 'bite the bullet' means to do something difficult or unpleasant that you've been putting off or hesitating over, 'grasp the nettle' is a British idiom meaning to tackle a difficult issue boldly. It originates from the way it is said that if you touch a nettle plant gently, it will sting you, but if you grasp it firmly, it will not. It's a lot older than bite the bullet, appearing in 1830 as a full-grown idiom, but as a proverb much earlier, in 1578 ('Euphues' by John Lyly), and was put into verse by Aaron Hill in 1753. I just thought this fit better for Jerremyah's way of thinking and his tendency to use older/maybe slightly out of date idioms.
Please note that Jerremyah says he didn't have a proper biological family, meaning that his biological family was shit. He (nor I) meant to imply that for a family to be 'proper', you have to be biologically related. Quite the opposite, in fact.