(A/N): Leo gets home and talks to Lisbet about their respective conversations while they were apart.

Leo

Jo and I arrived home, just in time to catch Lisbet telling Jerremyah to be nice- presumably to Shari, considering I heard her scoff at that plea the same way Jerremyah did.

I didn't like the idea of leaving those two together- not because I thought he was any danger to her, but because I was worried that too much of his prodding and provoking might cause Shari to retreat back into her shell, when we had just managed to lure her out of it again. In the end, I decided to trust Lisbet's judgement- despite the fact that her judgement was intrinsically flawed, simply by the fact that she had chosen Jerremyah. She did, however, know Jerremyah the best, and she probably knew Shari much better than I did, and if she had been happy to leave them upstairs in order to come meet us at the door, it would probably be fine.

The second I saw her, I felt some of the tension melt out of my body, and when her face split into a relieved smile upon seeing me hale and hearty, I returned it with one of my own.

"How'd it go?" She asked, reaching out to bump my shoulder, and I pressed it into her hand to keep in contact with her for a few seconds longer. Something in her expression changed- softened- and I couldn't tell whether I was comforting her, or she was comforting me.

"Alright, I guess." Her eyebrows furrowed, and I wondered whether she had been debriefed by Herc or Shari in the time before I got back, or if she was just concerned by my noncommittal answer in general. "Still breathing, so I call that a win." The corner of her mouth twitched upwards, and I reached out to tap the back of her forearm with the tip of my fingers.

"How'd it go on your end? Herc and Shari didn't get home too soon, did they?" Her face twisted slightly, before she shook her head.

"No, we got through most of it before they got back." Most of it? Well, I guess it makes sense that when you had a relationship that lasted as long as I suspected Jerremyah and Lisbet's had been, the conversations were bound to be just as long. "Leo, I... I told him about Elaine." My eyebrows shot up, and Lisbet rushed to explain. "Not everything! Not about- the thing that's going on now, but- the stuff that happened in the past, with you, and me, and... Jonothan." I could practically feel the weight of Jerremyah's attention on me from upstairs.

"What, exactly, did you tell him about her?" I trusted Lisbet, and I trusted that Jerremyah wasn't likely to do anything that would damage his chances with her- and I thought that my being upset by Elaine being hurt would do exactly that, even if Elaine herself being hurt didn't affect Lisbet to the same degree- which meant that Elaine shouldn't be in any more danger than she already was.

"I told him that you have a group of friends who have proven again and again that they want the best for you- Elaine is the only one I mentioned by name, and that's specifically because she's the only one that's been targeted by both your mother, and Jonothan." That was true, but maybe not quite as comforting as she thought it would be. "I told him about how she was the first person you told about being half-vampire-" Sort of. James and Remus didn't really count, so I guess that was true enough. "And I told him about how fantastic she's been about the whole thing- being bitten by Jonothan, and having her home attacked by vampires- myself being one of them." Elaine didn't hold that against her- or at least, I didn't think she did. She'd never shown any sign of it.

"Visiting here while you were recovering from being poisoned by your mother-" There was a shuffling sound from the next room, and I suddenly realised that not only was Herc nearby and could hear everything we were saying, but also that he hadn't been informed about that particular incident. Well, I guess now he knew about it. "-and being willing to help us test the Twins tolerances." She paused, letting me take in all that information, and I eyed her somewhat warily.

"And what else did you tell him about her?" She did her best to look innocent, but I knew better than to fall for that look, no matter how well-practiced it was.

"Whatever do you mean, Leo? What else is there to say?" I rolled my eyes at her, aiming for exasperated, but ultimately fearing that I had fallen short, and had landed on fond instead.

"Lisbet. Don't play dumb, it's beneath you." Her face split into a smirk, and suddenly I had the thought that she and Jerremyah's smirks were the perfect 'his and hers' matching set.

"Jerremyah may have formed his own opinion on the matter, and I didn't see fit to correct him." Oh god, what had Jerremyah assumed about Elaine and I's relationship? The thought of Jerremyah assuming anything about Elaine made me irrationally angry, and I struggled to swallow down my fury, and only managed to do so because I knew it would be fruitless when it came to Jerremyah anyway.

"That's awfully presumptuous of him." She arched an eyebrow at me, before glancing at Jerremyah as he made his way towards us down the staircase.

"All I said was that she sounded lovely." His tone was casual- not innocent, exactly, but I would have been even less inclined to believe him if that had been the case, so that was probably for the best. As it was, I narrowed my eyes at him.

"She is lovely, but you're not allowed to call her that." He didn't protest, instead choosing to look vaguely smug at my defensiveness over her, but I couldn't let that bother me.

"I also couldn't help but notice that Lisbet said she's your friend- is that the way you would describe her to me?" It was suggestive, and I saw Lisbet frown at him- clearly she thought he was pushing his luck as well.

"She's one of my best friends." He cocked an eyebrow at me, and I wanted to rip it off his stupid smug bastard face.

"And nothing more?" I scowled at him, and Lisbet smacked him on the shoulder.

"Jer, don't be a prick-" I cut her off.

"Oh, don't act like you aren't the worst offender when it comes to teasing me about my mess of a love life, Lis. Elaine, Brooke, it doesn't matter, you make fun of me no matter what." Lisbet had the decency to look chagrined, but Jerremyah's eyebrows shot up.

"Brooke? Who's Brooke?" Fuck. I'd forgotten that we were trying to keep things from him, in my agitated state. I took a deep breath in, and attempted to pack my emotions into a trunk in the corner of my mind in order to try and keep my brain a little clearer.

"Brooke is a friend of mine, and my- now ex- girlfriend." Now Jerremyah looked vaguely... proud? That couldn't be right.

"Girlfriend, huh? Is she the reason Elaine is 'just a friend'?" Technically, Elaine and I had been more involved while I was dating Brooke than we had been beforehand, but that was between the two of us- or, three of us, considering I had tried to keep Brooke apprised of the situation as much as possible.

"Elaine is 'just' a friend because she's human- and I'm not willing to risk killing her just to be able to date her." Jerremyah flinched, and there was a part of me that relished in it- deeming it payback for his prodding and teasing.

"But you'll date Brooke?" He looked fascinated by my seeming hypocrisy, and I shrugged.

"Brooke's like me-" I saw Lisbet shake her head, but I couldn't think of a reason why she would be doing so, so I continued onward. "She's part veela." Jerremyah's eyebrows shot up once more, and Lisbet slapped a hand over her own face.

"You're part veela?!"

Ah.

Well.

Now I knew why Lisbet had been shaking her head.

(A/N): Leo: 'Brooke's like me-'

Lisbet: 'Nonononononononono'

Leo: 'She's part veela.'

Lisbet: *facepalms*

Jerremyah: 0_o