Stand By You

Even if we can't find heaven, I'll walk through hell with you.

[gunsnleo-blog]

“Yeah, I… guess…”  But then here was the question – had Clara and Leon been hunters? Or was it Charlie and Naomi? Both?  How far back did his family screw over their future generations? Make it so hard for them  to have an actual normal life, one where shit like – like falling in love and getting married and having kids and the whole fucking shebang didn’t seem batshit insane  and impossible…  Who the hell decided he wouldn’t be allowed to believe  in that kind’ve shit? Who said that no, normal for the Alexander family, was gonna be bloodshed and knowing that somewhere down the line, all  they had to look forward to was an inevitable and violent death…? 

Leo remembered his Grandma Clara’s kitchen floor. That faded orange-ish linoleum, a ratty old green rug, something colourful and shining in the window over the sink… a windchime tinkling merrily outside…  it all seemed like such a set up. A stage… an act. And it wasn’t fucking fair.  

Scowling, Leo ripped off the rest of the beer’s label, finished the beer, and cleared his throat. He didn’t normally let himself think about this shit. He’d get lost in it all. He didn’t remember being quite so bitter about it, before, though… maybe it was staying here, with Caroline… not being on the move… he’d gone and gotten himself a case of small town life envy, and considering the state Mystic Falls was in?  Well… what’d that say about his current lifestyle?  At least Charlie had managed to pull herself free of it.  But as much as he hated what he did… it was the only kind’ve love he understood, anyway. He couldn’t stop killing. This darkness, this thirst for a way to vent in a kind of permanent, physical, violent altercation – it was as much of an addiction as his dependence on nicotene and all the pills and booze that’d once rattled around in  the back of his truck. 

– Aha.

Withdrawal. 

His shoulders relaxed some as he realized that must be why these pity party thoughts had managed to slid their way to the forefront of his mind. He didn’t have his regular medicines. 

Leo rubbed his scarred eye, itching at the corner a moment as he grimaced faintly.  “I think I just – I overthought it.  It should be fine.  You don’t, uh – no worries,”  he said, shaking his head a little as if to dismiss the entire idea. Really, what was the point in visiting his grandparents’ graves? They were dead. Nothing was there anymore but a pile of dirt and some satisfied bugs.  Expression relaxing, softening a little, he scanned the kitchen around them and made himself not think about how Liz must’ve had Caroline’s crafts as a kid on the fridge and how he’d never made a single ugly macaroni craft in his life. 

“’Least I’ve got a gameplan, now,”  Leo sighed, forcing a lighter tone, and it came easier when he met the eyes of his best friend again, his smile turning a little more natural.  He was  glad she was here. Not so happy in the sense that here was dangerous, but – here, in this kitchen with him at this moment… Leo was happy to have his best friend back in his life again… however temporary it had to be.  “Thanks, Tris.”  For everything. Just being Tristan Finnegan, for fuck’s sakes. The world really hadn’t done a damn thing to deserve her.

[triscfinnegan]

“You guess?” She stared at her best friend for a moment. “I think we should dig into this, see if we can see what gram and gramps were like.” Of course they weren’t her family, knew nothing about her existence, but she was used to referring to herself as just another one of the family. She rather claim the family she grew up with, especially Charlee and Leo, than explain her real situation.

“There have to be property records in the local library, let’s see if we can find where they lived.” She planned, giving Leo her usual almost excited look when it came to researching. It was what she knew, she may not have been able to ever be an active hunter, but she trained herself to research in the most effective manner.

Tristan just stared at Leo as the gears turned in his head. It was like he never ran out of thoughts and she learned the little looks he got when he was in a conversation with himself. The little twitches in his eyes when he was going over the conversation he was in before choosing his next words. She had to admit, he was a lot more calculated than a god deal of the rest of their family, and that was actually an incredible trait, not that Leo would think anything of it. 

“No, I’m coming, don’t talk yourself out of it for me.” Tris rolled her eyes and gave him a fond smile. Oh how she had missed her best friend, though she wished his walls weren’t still so strong. Part of her had hoped one day she would find him living in a cute little home with someone he cared about, a dog, picket fence, stable job, the whole shebang. And although he did have a few of these things, he wasn’t out of the life. Wasn’t safe from the life they were raised in, though none of them were anymore. 

“Okay, we just went from happy smiles to you tying up the conversation like I came here to consult with you about the job. I wanted to see you, and your ridiculously cute dog. Where did you find him?” She tried to work in a topic shift since this conversation was obviously straying into the grumpy subject. She’d work with him on it little by little before she had to return home. 

[gunsnleo-blog]

Leo smiled a little ruefully, nodding, recalling the struggles that had come with life on the go for Tris.  He used to be the one who tried so hard to make up for it; helped her keep track of her medication, thumped on her chest if she wasn’t feeling well enough, helped with her physio…  all until the mauling, and they’d been temporarily set up in Detroit and Miles… Miles had become unbearable for Leo to be around.  He’d grown weak and instead of confiding in his sisters, of letting them help him, he’d just done his best to avoid all his problems… and in  the end, that resulted in him not being there for them. 

He could only nod again as Tris asked whether this was where they were from. Here were at least his and Charlee’s roots –  Leo had always assumed his parents’ living here had been temporary, a break for them to start a family… he’d sometimes wondered if that wasn’t why his parents had always seemed to resent him so much.  Maybe he’d been an accident; sorta… forced them to settle down, for awhile, anyways…?  But then they’d had Charlee, so really, Leo couldn’t be sure.  He didn’t like thinking about it too much. 

As she suggested she could go with him, something clicked into place inside.  

“Uh…”  He blinked, brows furrowing for a second as realization dawned on him.  Having Tristan here – that would help.  He looked up over into his best friend’s brown eyes.  “Um – yeah, sure.  If… if that’d be cool with you.  I dunno why I’ve been putting it off, I guess… I dunno, y’know, the parents never so much as mentioned Virginia, and…”  He shrugged his shoulders limply.  

“Guess I just got used to – avoiding it. Y’know, there’s concrete proof that it wasn’t just always… them.” Nora and Miles, parental extraordinaires.   “Grandparents are kind’ve… just really normal  sounding,”  he chuckled, shaking his head.  Jesus, what was more domestic and regular than spending an afternoon with grandma?  Grandma’s cooking?  Granddad’s stories…?  

[triscfinnegan]

Tristan shook her head as Leo tried to explain why he hadn’t gone. Even though she asked and was indeed curious, she understood that finding your roots could mean opening an entirely different can of worms. “Does knowing you’re from here change how you feel about this place?” Maybe he was more willing to settle and stay a while as it seemed because he wanted to know more about the place. Maybe Leo was getting secretly sentimental.

There were only a few true moments as a teenager that she could recall Leo getting really sentimental. He was that way towards his sister and towards his baby blue, and once when she hit a cat while he was teaching her to drive too young on their property. Tristan had been so upset, Leo decided to help her hold a little funeral for it. She supposed that was more of a loving sentiment for her so she could feel better about killing this possible pet, than a cat he never knew.

They had a good amount of stories like that. No matter what, he seemed to be picking her up and helping her through the rough patch. She was sure he believed he left them to fend for their own, but truth was Charlee and Tris wouldn’t have known what to do several times on their own if they didn’t have Leo’s words and example to think back on.

“No, I’m sorry to break it to you, but the ones who gave birth to you did in fact have someone who gave birth to them. It’s a cycle that goes back to the chicken- or the egg or whatever.” She waved her hand in the air as to ignore the philosophical question of which came first. “You have grandparents, you weren’t born into some marshan family. Though they’re all pretty..unorthodox.” Tristan gave Leo a small smile. He knew what she meant without her ever having to say it. Their family was like a riddle wrapped inside a mystery inside a bitch. "You're a lot more normal than you think." 

[gunsnleo-blog]

“She’s mostly been working around the house – she was  attending school, though,”  Leo said thoughtfully, thinking again of the psych textbook Caroline had once carried around often enough that he’d noticed. Psych and drama…  “She was into psychology and theater – drama. I dunno how up she is for crowds right now.  I’ll put it out there, but… maybe we could catch some kinda… I dunno, like a seminar or something at Whitmore some afternoon, too.”  He shrugged lightly, frowning thoughtfully. 

Caroline had been so busy putting away all of her mother’s things – something Tris’d probably noticed. Much as the Forbes residence was about a thousand times more homey than any hotel or motel room he’d ever stayed in, Tris had been living on her own awhile now, and would have noted the small differences, the things one would miss, in a home. Leo had seen it all get taken down a little at a time, so it was less noticeable to him, who hadn’t known the sheriff personally and had only visited with Caroline here once or twice before her mother passed. 

“If it was just a case of the truck, I’d be back at the motel.”  Leo shrugged, picking at the label on his beer.  He remembered when Dave had passed… Tris had often trailed along quietly behind he and Raven, and Leo had gotten the sense she hadn’t wanted to be alone. He didn’t think anybody would wanna be alone when they lost a parent – no matter how old. Even in Detroit, after the mauling, when Leo had felt like he’d lost his father – he’d found somebody, reached out blindly in the dark and just picked somebody to attach himself to, somebody away from that shitty apartment and Miles’ only remaining fist. 

Leo sighed, looking up at Tris a little uncomfortably, lips pressed  tightly together in a thin line for a moment before he spoke.  

“Charlee and I were born here. This is actually where, uh –…”  His nose wrinkled a little as he grimaced at himself, his own… general ineptitude at explaining himself, and he looked down at the beer bottle again.  “Clara and Leon Alexander are in that cemetery – our, uhh, paternal grandparents.”  He wasn’t gonna so much as mention Miles. A part of him was almost afraid that Tris had grown callous and nonchalant about his father in the past seven years as his sister had. Didn’t wanna get into it. “Haven’t gotten around to visiting yet. Just wondered if Charlee had.”  He shifted, putting a hand in his pocket and finishing his beer with the other before he set it on  the counter.  “S’pose I should get that outta the way with at some point. Y’know, before I start dumping bodies where they don’t belong,”  he said, with a brief, humorless chuckle.

[triscfinnegan]

Tristan nodded with a small smile as he said he would lay the offer out there for Caroline. She had been much younger when she lost her dad, but she knew having people around was just a helpful way to remain distracted and actually have some fun. 

Having fun when you it feels like you’ll never be able to even smile again can be a blessing and a struggle. She knew personally that she felt guilty the first time she had laughed felt happy after her dad died. As a kid she worried that it meant she would forget him and it took a long talk with Nora for her to realize that wasn’t the case. She wasn’t sure how Caroline was responding, but she hoped the blonde would allow herself to feel happy.

“I sure as hell don’t miss hotels, I’ll tell you that.” Tristan mused aloud, thinking about how tough it had been traveling around with the family. Everyone had always been stressed over something and miserable in their own way that it took a great toll on her remaining immune system. She was sick reasonably often and being sick in her case required strong steroids to help her lungs. And that only made things a bit trickier as well because medical treatments weren’t a regular convince on the road. Tristan learned to see the upside of everything and remain positive to keep her stress low and immune system alive. Settling down and having a stable doctor, regular appointments had done wonders in her opinion. 

The news about the cemetery here was a surprise to her however. “So this is where you’re actually from?” Which meant a lot of things that just weren’t talk about in the Alexander home. “Why haven’t you gone yet?” Tristan asked curiously. “Do you want me to go with you?” Maybe it would make it easier or maybe he wanted to do this all on his own.

[gunsnleo-blog]

“Yeah,”  Leo agreed.  “I just – I dunno, I thought it was good for her to, y’know, have that option – that distraction available to her, if she wanted it.  But she’ll be okay. However it works out.”  Caroline really was bouncing back. He was amazed with how strong she was being about all of this – it didn’t stop him from worrying about her, worrying that there was something he was overlooking or missing or just flat out not doing that he oughtta be… but he admired her.  The way she was carrying herself – who wouldn’t?  The fact that she was a vampire only emphasized how she should be respected, admired for how well she was doing.  Vampires supposedly felt more strongly, with their humanity intact, and yet… there Caroline was, mustering a smile, if only through her pure force of will.  She was pretty unstoppable. 

A hotspot was fuckin’ right… Leo nodded thoughtfully, a frown playing around his lips as he considered this, and debated whether or not to bring up the fact that he was born here. It’d been part of the reason he’d wanted to come. It was hard to say whether or not this was a tid bit of information Tristan knew about he and Charlee – it wasn’t something they were ever able to discuss with Nora and Miles around, and it’d taken a lot of prodding to get Uncle Tony to fess up to it at all.  Virginia had been a taboo among the Alexander clan for as long as Leo could remember. 

Leo grinned as she teased him, shaking his head.  “We’re friends,”  he reminded her, and the smile slid from his face kind’ve quickly as he continued in an awkward, hesitant tone:  “– And I only moved in with her after her mom was killed.”  He winced, scratching the back of his neck.  Damn, he was good at bringing people down.  But that was the truth.  “Plus, y’know, her mom – she was killed by a vampire without his humanity, and I thought – there was a chance –”  He bit his lip, shutting himself up and shaking his head with a dismissive wave of his hand – he’d said a little too much, maybe, in his awkward effort to  explain himself, and… well, he was just being stupid, not exactly good at keeping up with the lighter tone… thankfully if anybody could forgive him for that, it’d be Tris.  Still, though.

His decision was made for him regarding whether or not to bring up how this was his and Charlee’s hometown when Tristan suggested he use the cemetery to dispose of the bodies.  Honestly, it was another thought that he’d briefly considered. But the closest he’d been to Mystic Falls’ cemetery since arriving was Sheriff Forbes’ funeral and whenever he passed along the outskirts from the forested side.  He’d been carefully avoiding it – his grandparents’ graves. Why, he didn’t really know. Old habits died hard, he supposed… 

“I should be doing that,”  Leo admitted.  “Shoulda been from the start, really.  That cemetery’s a fuckin’ zoo.”  There was something a little more disturbing about making use out of it now, though;  now that Elizabeth was in there, and his grandparents… just seemed… disrespectful?  But really, Leo reminded himself.  Bodies were bodies. And ignorance – ignorance was bliss. Anybody who came to grieve or mourn was doing it for themselves, not ‘cause the bodies six feet under were gonna hear them, and what they wouldn’t know, had no way of hurting them.  “Charlee never mentioned the cemetery yet, has she?”  Leo wondered curiously.  His sister was better about these things – about not working herself up, just in her mind, with pointless thoughts. 

[triscfinnegan]

“I’m sure she’ll find something to put her focus in. Is she attending school? My studies were always a something I dove into when I needed a distraction.” Granted Tristan had always been the nerd of the group and most people didn’t find school to be their escape, but you never know. Sometimes when your life is falling apart you will reach for anything and everything to put your full attention into. “Or tell her to throw a party or something if that’s what she’s into.”

And as he explained how her mom died, Tristan got her answer as to whether or not this Caroline girl was caught up in all of this mess. “So are you here then to look out for her or because your truck is out of commission?” She had to ask, maybe she was just making him super uncomfortable with her jokes, not that he seemed to be with the smile on his face. 

“Why would Charlee mention the cemetery?” Her brow’s furrowed together. “Does she spend all of her time there or something?” It wasn’t something she would expect from Charlee, but this town was obviously quite odd so she didn’t know what to expect. “Well now you have a new burial ground, so you’re welcome.” She joked and took another drink of her water.

[gunsnleo-blog]

Leo was surprised to hear that Charlee’s place was (still?) in boxes.  The last time he’d been there it’d looked like she was beginning to unpack… and she’d been pretty fucking stubborn about leaving.  Sure, she said she’d head out after Grant showed up, but who the hell knew how long that’d be?  Even the local police department hadn’t been given a determined date, but apparently the town was pretty damn desperate for Dawson to make the new sheriff.  Leo couldn’t blame ‘em, Grant knew his shit…  but this Charlee thing needed to get resolved, preferably before Grant showed up and ratted them all out to Nora – or Tony, who’d in turn then  rat them out to his sister.  

“Care’ll find somethin’,”  Leo muttered with a slight shrug; but still, he felt a little bad that  he was costing her a job, even if he knew she’d be fine with her ambitions and all. 

“It’s like they’re drawn here,”  Leo sighed, nodding a little as he frowned.  “Which I guess makes sense. Must’ve just gotten to a point where the Town Council had no choice but to cover shit up – y’know, to keep the town from getting quarantined or something drastic and movie-like… and the supernatural already have their advantages, so… it’s working against the people, instead of for ‘em. ‘Cause now the Council’s just cleaning up after them, too.”  It was all pretty messed up and seemed to only help keep the vicious cycle of violence going, and yet… what other choice did they have? Leo had known from the start that Mystic Falls was gonna be a long term project.

“I know,”  Leo sighed with a nod – to pretty much everything she’d said.  He was only a little concerned about being found out by the general public.  It’d sucked, seeing their reaction, having his secrets all out in the open like displays being poked and prodded at, but…  “Like I said – there are just so many vampires.  They’re gonna know a hunter’s in town if they’ve got any living brains left.”   Obviously just a little snark there; Leo was perfectly aware of how cunning and intelligent vampires could be, how sometimes their lack of humanity only made them even more dangerous in that respects.  

“Honestly, I’d… I’d thought about just burning evidence, but…”  His frown deepened.  It just didn’t seem final enough. Like if they burned, they were gone. Nothing was left to reassure him that they were dead. Not gonna hurt anybody else. It was like these monsters had never existed.  “Then there’s still the ashes and the pillars of smoke to worry about.”  Leo scratched his scruff idly, looking off into space, gears turning. 

[triscfinnegan]

"I'm sure if Charlee offered her a promotional manager kind of position then she'll be just fine finding work elsewhere. Plus, maybe the club will continue even if Charlee isn't the one here to run things, she may still have a job." Not that anyone liked the uncertainty of whether or not you actually have a job. Already having a good position is something to look forward to, but she knew for those people like herself who really needed the money and didn't have tons floating around, waiting for a job meant you were still looking for another in the mean time. She hoped Caroline the best in whatever work position worked out for her. Though, if the woman had just lost her mother than she might not be in the right state of mind to be working anyways. Again, everyone handled grief differently.

"Well, if you were obviously able to find this place and decide before you came that there were supernatural things here, then of course other vampires would know. It has to be some monster hub or hot spot." She shook her head. Tristan didn't know much about how the grapevine worked for the supernatural world, but she was sure there had to be some places that they frequented. Somewhere where they felt safe enough to let loose together. If the council here was only cleaning up after the messes rather than doing anything more about it then they had every reason to feel safe here. It wasn't as though the town's people  seem to be any wiser about it. That she knew of at least, Tristan didn't miss how he completely avoided her question about whether or not Caroline knew about these things, but she wasn't going to ask any further questions.

Her stare drifted off from his face to a picture on a magnet that was stuck to the fridge. So that was Caroline. She wasn't sure she was ever going to know what this girl looked like from the lack of pictures in this place, but if that woman standing next to her was her now deceased mother then Leo didn't have a lot to worry about. "But you're not a hunter." She mused as a smile tugged on her features. "You're dating- excuse me, living with, the sheriff's daughter-" Tristan looked to Leo with a smirk on her face, she missed teasing Leo all too much. "No hunter would get themselves that close to the situation." Most kept their distance, but Leo obviously had a soft spot for this girl and she understood him wanting to be there for her in this tough time.

"How much are they paying attention to open graves in the cemetary?" Tristan asked. Obviously people were dying frequently enough around here with the apparent large vampire population, so there had to be constant open graves. If Leo was there digging holes would it really look all that suspicious?

[wellwishthiisneverends]

[gunsnleo-blog]

“She is,”  Leo agreed with a small nod and a smile. Caroline had been more than kind and generous and forgiving from the moment he’d arrived in town in a pretty literal way.  “You’ll like her.  You might actually see her at some point at Charlee’s, I guess…”  He paused, fiddling with the label on his beer bottle. “She, ahh, wanted to hire Care for somethin’ – a promotional manager type deal – but… not sure where that’s going, these days.”  Since he was pretty hellbent on driving Charlee out’ve town. It sucked it’d cost Caroline a job, but he hadn’t seen or heard from his sister much aside from their training sessions, so he wasn’t sure this job was all that promising anyways.

“Oh, I know,”  was his reply to her stating he was embarrassing, and he seemed rather proud of it, an impish smirk playing along his lips.  As she said she really apparently didn’t wanna get into it (it being some action) with this Will guy, he only sighed and shook his head. “If you say so,”  Leo sang with a devilish grin as she shoved him away gently.  Sounded like he wasn’t the only one putting responsibilities above a certain kinda fun.  Oh, the shame.  “Just make sure you bat your eyes at people back in Minnesota – most folks around here are elbow deep into all kinds’ve shit,”  Leo advised, wrinkling his nose a bit.  “I swear, seems like every time I kill one vampire, two more pop up a week later. Ugh, and now…”  

He grimaced – maybe Tris could help with this bit.  He wasn’t the intellectual type, and his kill ritual had always held a morbid sense of comfort and familiarity for him, but… “The flood  – they’re everywhere’s around town, now… fuckin’ news reporters making a big thing out’ve what was supposed  to look like nothing –”  He paused, shaking his head with a huge sigh.  “My kill site’s fucked.  Need to find a new one whenever I get do back out there.”  Jesus, it’d be a pain.  He’d really gotten into the swing of things, before.

[triscfinnegan]

“Charlee’s place is actually in boxes, so I don’t think the job is going to work out for your friend.” Not that Tristan knew for sure. Just because someone decided they couldn’t move elsewhere to do work didn’t mean the entire project would shut down. And if Caroline had already been hired then she would probably get to keep her position when someone new had been brought in to do the work Charlee was supposed to. 

The ginger made a somewhat disturbed face and nodded. “I’ll remember that. I don’t know how one town can be so screwed up and there not be an end to the issue.” She obviously wasn’t disturbed by the idea of monsters and trouble, she was quite familiar with these things. Had been extra cautious all her life because she couldn’t protect herself like Leo or Charlee. But just because your defense is weak doesn’t mean you can’t have a strong offense, there were plenty of preparations she could take that over time were just a natural habit to her. Even in her day to day life. 

“What about your roommie-friend? She caught up in it all too?” It would make more sense depending on the scenario, that Leo would be a bit more trustworthy of someone who is an aware victim of the troubles in town rather than someone completely blind to it all. There was a bit of a love-hate feeling for those people. Most hunters appreciated their ability to stay blissfully ignorant and hopefully life a happy life completely unaware of the real trouble in the world, yet it’s their ignorance that could also be an issue when they refused to understand and see the problem even when they are staring at it in the face. “And now what?” Tris had to ask, something was obviously was eating at Leo.

He seemed a bit jumbled up in taking about the issue, but she could understand through the details. “Well it’s a big things to a town who is ignorant to everything here." Again, love-hate, ignorance wasn’t always bliss, especially to those who were aware and dealing with the ignorant. “Has there been suspicion? Because if you need help getting out of trouble then I’m right by your side.” Tristan may not be able to fight, but she could still get her hands dirty when it came to legal or trouble cover up. “Look, don’t stress it, desiccation for vampires is rapid in a way no one in a coroner's office is going to understand. They’re probably struggling to figure out what they’re even looking at and will never get a true answer to how long any of them have been dead. And the water had to have washed away and and all trace evidence, so you just need to approach this like it’s a new town you’re coming to. Find a burial ground that isn’t going to raise suspicion.”

[stoplookingatmyurlfreaks]

🎶

[gunsnleo-blog]

Leo had about 18 years’ worth of memories to prove Tristan was definitely, definitely biased. Despite the fact that Leo was pretty fond of Raven, for instance, the two of them had been constantly at odds growing up, always finding something  to argue about at the first chance.  Forget the ways he’d been a thorn in his parents’ sides – Grant Dawson had had his hands full dealing with Leo whenever he had the misfortune of being in charge of his training. 

“Just a bit,” Leo chuckled.  “S’why I’m fond of ya,” he teased with a smirk before he drank some more of his beer, thinking on her question.  He and Caroline had met twice, in a way.   “It was actually not twenty minutes after I pulled into town,”  Leo recalled, looking around Caroline’s kitchen, as it was hitting him for the first time just how long Care had been putting up with him, with no spats to date.  … ‘Cept for the pool incident, but… y’know…   “I was looking for a spot to park the truck without getting ticketed, she pointed me in the right direction. Brought me brownies later,”  he admitted with a grin.  “And cookies. She’s part of an actual  welcoming committee.”  And those treats had been fuckin’ awesome – and a big surprise. They’d been strangers, after all, and she’d really gone outta her way for him. 

“– And why the hell not?”  Leo asked a little indignantly when she said it wouldn’t be realistic for anything to happen between the two of them.  “C’mon, Tris – show off your brains, bat your eyes. Have some fun.”  He smiled and nudged her lightly.  He could tell the whole ‘he’s great, but’  Tris might be interested in this Will guy a little more than she was really letting on or outright saying. 

[triscfinnegan]

"You better be." It was nice to hear that at least the woman who her best friend was living with and whatever seemed to really be a nice girl. Caroline, welcoming committee member and baker extraordinaire, it was reassuring to hear that Leo had someone instantly welcome him since she knew he could be very closed off. It was a skill he had perfected over the years and she only assumed he had gotten better at it. 

"She sounds great. I can't wait to meet her." Tristan just smiled and drank from her water bottle. Hopefully Leo wouldn't be bothered by Tristan wanting to meet this girl, but she understood if Caroline wasn't exactly up for visitors. Everyone responded to grief differently, some put all of their focus into doing regular activities, some secluded themselves and most were somewhere in between.

Tris shook her head at his following question and comment. "You're seriously embarrassing, I hope you know that." The ginger couldn't help but joke. "I'm having fun, we have fun as friends." She rolled her eyes, playfully shoving him away as he nudged her. "I like my life the way it is now, I like the stability and regular routine, batting my eyes at my roommate will only make things messy. I'll do it at someone I'm not signed on a lease with." She chuckled and looked around the kitchen. It was a big decision for her to actually put herself down for a three year lease last year, but she wanted to not be afraid of death and believing that she was going to survive this was one of the first things she needed to do. So she put herself out there and signed the lease with Will.

[fracturedhcpe-blog]

         i’m pretty used to things          n                        o                     t          turning   out   the   way   i          expect  and  making  the          best                of                   it. 

[gunsnleo-blog]

“Damn, Tris. Stow the savage,” Leo laughed, shaking his head. “Nawh, she’s… she’s been great, y’know – putting up with my sorry ass.”  He shrugged, before his blue-grey eyes went back to hers.  He was trying to decipher somethin’, having a feeling that she wasn’t telling him the whole story there considering the lack of details about Mister Mystery of Minnesota. “There’s nothing going on. She’s just… surprisingly easy to get along with.” He used the word ‘surprisingly’ because both people standing in the kitchen knew Leo didn’t make friends easily. He didn’t open up, didn’t trust, didn’t generally like  people. Caroline was just damn likeable.  He sipped some more of his beer before he spoke again.  

“So, am I not getting a name? What’s he doing, does he work, just study..?”  He raised his eyebrows, hoping to hear some more about Tristan’s life. Sure, she’d been sending him messages… but it was good just to hear her voice again. Leo had never really had a home growing up, but he’d heard the saying before about people being like homes, or giving off the same vibe; and he’d always been with his little sisters, Charlee and Tris.  Even if he couldn’t patch things with Charlee… he and Tris had always had an understanding.  

[triscfinnegan]

Tristan chuckled as Leo teased her back. “You speak as though it’s hard to deal with you. Though I may just be a little partial.” She admitted and finally opened the bottle of water that he had handed her. As he said she was surprisingly easy to get along with, she just grinned and quirked an eyebrow. After a few moments of silence, she took a drink, knowing she didn’t have to say any more to make her point. “Yeah? And how did you two meet?” Tristan figured she may as well ask questions while he’s answering them.

“His name is Will and he is a teacher as well. He got hired last year shortly after I was brought on for more than just temporary hours, but he is already done with school.” She raised her eyebrows back at him. “He’s great, but nothing is going to happen. It’s not realistic.” She admitted with a shrug. 

[gunsnleo-blog]

Leo thought it was unbelievably stupid  that corpses had rights.  They were inanimate objects. Inanimate objects wasting lifesaving organs over a memory of a choice – because that person didn’t exist anymore. They were gone. Bodies were just… bodies.  They weren’t people.  – It was easier to think that where it concerned this, his best friend having less rights to life than a goddamn corpse.  (But he’d held the body of a child before, a huge tear in her neck, her skin cold and limbs limp, and he’d cracked. Memories were important… loss was important.  Sometimes. Had he been a day earlier, this kid would’ve grown up into an amazing person.)

Still, his expression made it abundantly clear that he disagreed with Tristan’s reasoning, even if he wouldn’t force the topic any further – it would be easier for Tris to understand than to be bitter over it. 

… Her roommate was apparently a he, back in Minnesota.  Leo quirked an eyebrow.

“So were you bugging me ‘bout Care ‘cause there’s somethin’ going on between you and your guy roomie?”  Leo asked pretty bluntly, though his stiff and frustrated expression was melting into something a little more neutral with a hint of a smirk he was obviously trying to bite back. He wouldn’t tease her too badly – just enough to make a point, since she’d gone and poked fun at him with Caroline.

[triscfinnegan]

Tristan gave him a surprised expression and shook her head. Of course she had teased him and he was going to tease her, but as far as she knew, he and this Caroline girl had a chance at being together, she however did not. It was a silly little crush that was going to wind up going nowhere. Tristan did not get to have a normal life as much as she tried, just like with Leo’s life, death loomed around every corner, only in a different way. 

Plus, life wasn’t about being with someone and being in love, life was about friends and happiness and giving back to the world. She could feel completely fulfilled while remaining single. “No, I was bugging you about Care because when I finally find you, you’re playing house and sue me for being hopeful.” Tristan smirked as she replied. She wanted Leo to be happy, and if that included Caroline then it was only her job as his best friend to find out. “Because if something were going on, there is that whole best friend/sibling talk that needs to happen. I know I don’t look like I can cause harm, but I can swing this thing if I need to.” She was joking to an extent. There wasn’t any chance she was just going to go after someone for a relationship going wrong, but if someone was intentionally hurting her friend then they would get to see just how protective she could be.

[windblownmusing]

                   the important people in our lives leave imprints.                          they may stay or go in the physical realm,                          but they are ALWAYS there in your heart,                             because they helped form your heart.                                     𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔢'𝔰 𝔫𝔬 𝔤𝔢𝔱𝔱𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔯 𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔱.

[gunsnleo-blog]

“Well –”  Leo said, after taking another sip of his beer.  “I could hold up a hospital if that’s what it takes.  Y’know, lock a world class surgeon in a room with a brain dead match.  Fuckin’ buncha selfish, ignorant jackasses…”  Leo muttered. It was a joke – he wasn’t serious – but he wasn’t smiling either. He’d been biting his  tongue, but he shook his head, now.  He never understood why – why  didn’t people want to donate their organs? What exactly did they think keeping them would accomplish? They were dead!  There wasn’t some underground party waiting for ‘em, ‘cept Hell, probably, for being such an ignorant bag of dicks  and denying somebody else the chance to live because what…? They wanted an open casket, wanted to look pretty  in death?  They were fuckin’ dead! 

 He sighed, nodding as she spoke of her bronchitis and pneumonia.  “But overall… you’re still okay?  Kids aren’t tryna yank out your cannula back home, roommates know the deal, helping you with your routine? –  D’you need help with your routine?”  Leo tacked on, at the end.  He didn’t know how busy Charlee was with work.  Nothing came before Tris, of course, but Leo was out’ve work till the insurance company quit dragging their knuckles and fixed up the garage.  He had the time.  He didn’t offer much more of an acknowledgement about Nora than a nod and a blink. His mother was a sore spot.  But it was good to know she was doing alright.

[triscfinnegan]

Tristan laughed as her best friend made his half agitated comment. “Yep, that’s closer to what I was expecting.” She knew it wasn’t a topic that made anyone who knew someone who needed organ transplants, but she had learned to respect people’s choices. “Everyone has the rights to their own body, alive or not. They get to make the decision as to whether or not they want to donate. Some people get to live in ignorant bliss about others needing transplants.” 

She chuckled as he mentioned people wanting to pull out her cannula. “I work with a few autistic kids who don’t entirely recognize what they’re doing, but they’re figuring it out. The more and more I work with them the more they are learning what is okay to touch and what isn’t. As for my roommate, yes he is very helpful and very kind to the situation.” She assured. 

Things between she and her roommate were complicated, you live with someone for long enough you’re either going to think of them as family or develop feelings and she had really hoped that their situation would be the former but it was looking to be more of the latter. After all, if she was going to leave this world any time soon, she wanted to minimize the damage, and leaving a relationship was messier than just losing a roommate. 

“I’m handling most things on my own pretty well, I think.”

[gunsnleo-blog]

“Pfft,”   Leo scoffed, before taking another sip of his beer.  He was of the opinion he had exactly the right sized ego for – well, him.  All things considered. Which probably  meant it should be exponentially smaller, shouldn’t it…?  Anyways, he wasn’t about to debate existential bullshit with Tris, or think too hard on it. 

“Hm.”  In Leo’s very strong opinion, when people died and were viable donors, they or their loved ones shouldn’t get a choice at all. He didn’t give a shit if that made him insensitive. It was insensitive to not  wanna save somebody’s life. He’d had this opinion since he was old enough to understand what cystic fibrosis meant for his best friend, and he’d never once changed it, even for a second.  Leo knew better than to push the topic.  He didn’t want Tris to think about it any more than she had to… and really, it wasn’t his business to ask any more. 

“– How’s Nora?”  he asked instead.  Not that his mother’s welfare was any more his business than Tristan’s, either, really… but again, not something he was about to bring up with Charlee.  Things between he and his little sister were rocky to say the least… and tricky questions were to be avoided at all cost. Leo had told himself every day since he left Grand Marais that he couldn’t give any less of a fuck about how his mom was doing, but the reality of it was that he’d wondered, whether he’d wanted to or not.  Her monster wasn’t just in her closet or under her bed, for one.  It was laying next to her every night.  Although Leo was positive his leaving must’ve alleviated most of the chaos, Miles’d been a miserable or piece of shit anyway since the mauling. Best case scenario was that Nora kept him sedated.

[triscfinnegan]

“Hm? That’s all you’re going to say? Where’s your opinion or grumbly comment? You have always have one.” Tris prodded. It had been a while and maybe Leo felt different about things than he used to. Maybe he didn’t want to invest himself in getting to really catch up again because he knew it wasn’t going to last. She was going to go home and he was going to disappear again soon and maybe it would hurt less this way. That didn’t mean she didn’t understand. She knew his position and so long as Leo was safe and happy then she wasn’t going to fight him on anything he did or said or didn’t. 

“I’m fine, promise. No dramatic declines, a lot of pneumonia and bronchitis, but what’s new? I just haven’t heard anything about new lungs and was too scared to reach out again.” The red head felt like she needed to make him feel a little better, plus she didn’t feel as much of a need to keep everything hidden from him. He was well aware of what she dealt with every day, saw it directly for years straight.. “She’s good, last I heard.” Tristan called from time to time, but usually she was pretty busy with work and classes. “You know, she’s- well she’s Nora.” Tristan shrugged and smiled at her best friend. So long as Nora remained her typical ol’ self then it meant things were fine in their little screwed up household. 

[gunsnleo-blog]

Leo opened the fridge door a little slowly – checking, inconspicuously to see if any blood bags would be in Tristan’s direct line of sight. Thankfully, that’d be a no. He could’ve just as easily told her it was for the Last Ditch Resort plan (should  he accidentally get turned into a vampire – he’d turn, just long enough to hunt down the fucker who killed him, ‘course. Then  he’d take the long nap.)  But of course, if he used that excuse, he’d have to explain why Caroline was cool with him sticking blood in her fridge, too, so… best Tris just didn’t see it. 

Grabbing a water for Tris and a beer for himself, he handed her her own bottle and tapped the plastic with his glass bottle with a wink.  “S’okay.  You’ll keep my ego in check,”  he chuckled, before taking a sip.  His eyes fell upon the  tank Tris had to drag around with her – funny how he never used to notice it at all unless Tristan was struggling somehow.  In Caroline’s house, though, it was noticeable.  Maybe it was just the time it’d been since he’d seen it – or maybe it was the new decorations Tristan had added that he could see peeking out from the edges of her sweater.  

… He hated to bring it up… the smile slid from his face, replaced with lines of silent apologies. 

“I, uh, wouldn’t ask –”  He had zero right to pry into her ultra personal life after he’d refused to acknowledge her messages for seven years, he knew that… but…  “– Any word from UNOS?”    Their headquarters were in Virginia.  Maybe they could take a day trip. Try some puppy dog eyes, if she hadn’t heard anything… because there was no way she wasn’t getting to the top of that list. It had  to be any day now.  She’d get ‘em.  But a push wouldn’t hurt.

[triscfinnegan]

“Honestly, if you had an ego for once I would be surprised. That would be pretty amazing actually.” It sounded weird, sure, but Leo was always so down on himself, always very insecure. If he showed signs of having an ego for once then it would be promising. Meaning he’s actually building some self confidence. Plus, Leo couldn’t go off the rails with confidence, it wasn’t in his DNA to be an overconfident jerk. 

She looked down at her tank as he brought up the topic of her illness and stuttered as she first started talking. “Um I- no, no I haven’t. I don’t know where I even am on the list anymore, I haven’t called in a while.” She had gone through her phase of calling constantly when she had been given the news that things were only worsening because of how frequent she was getting lung infections, so afraid to die. And then it hit her that she was spending so much time afraid to die that she wasn’t living. If she were at the top of the list or there were lungs available for her, they would call. “Not enough people want to donate and there are plenty of people on the list.”/p>

[gunsnleo-blog]

“Fuckin’ right,”  Leo confirmed.  But the town was also seriously infested with vampires. Leo was all too aware that vampires who managed to retain their humanity and give a shit about people were all too rare.  It was one of the many reasons Care was such a gem.  Most vampires fed on people. Most vampires killed people.  It was a damn shame one of her friends had fallen into that category…  Anyway – Leo wasn’t leaving just ‘cause of a little light shone on his identity. It sucked, but… came with a long term position, he supposed. 

Leo smiled, leaning into her as well as he felt her shoulder against his bicep. “Yeah, yeah… and you’re not a problem, Tris.  Just don’t  want you getting hurt ‘cause of me.”  Ergo, having his worst fucking fears come true… he was happy to move on from the topic, however, and tell her about his adventures.  He didn’t go too into detail – sure, she said she wanted the bad and the ugly, but Leo was guessing she wouldn’t wanna hear about his trials and errors in body transportation and the other more gruesome details of a hunter’s life, even if she technically knew about them.  

He did laugh, however, as he told her about the time somebody stole his backpack when he’d broken into a campground in Colorado to use the, ah, facilities – and he’d been forced to duck, run and hide butt naked all the way back to his truck. He told her about the dinosaur museums in Drumheller, about the mountains he’d climbed, the glaciers and springs he’d explored, and how he used to have a seashell each from the Pacific and Atlantic oceans super glued to the ceiling of his truck before the flood. He told her about his disastrous attempt at making an igloo – how he’d woken up one night to the lovely sensation of being crushed by snow, how it’d taken him days to get that chill outta his system. He told her about the tides in the Bay of Fundy, about what it was like seeing a pod of finback whales swim beneath your kayak and spout water not fifteen feet away…  

Okay, so yeah – he’d definitely skimmed over the bad bits. She didn’t need to hear about how bad his arm had been since the last she’d heard from him, the many near misses… how he’d very narrowly missed getting his head spiked, falling just shy of impaling his skull on an old rig on a fishing boat while hunting a vampire who took his victims to open sea, getting cornered by an entire pack of werewolves when his gun jammed, finding dead children in the basement of a warehouse in Kansas city… among other  horror stories… 

“Okay, I  need a drink now,”  Leo chuckled some time later, getting up and clearing his throat a bit, patting Tristan’s knee.  “Shit, I – I haven’t talked like that in awhile,”  he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck as he stood and stretched.  “Seriously, can I get ya anything? We’ve got orange juice, milk, water – I think there’s some lemonade, too, and Coke.” He gestured towards the fridge in the kitchen.

[triscfinnegan]

Tristan hadn’t felt this happy in quite a while, just listening to Leo tell her stories about his adventures and times on and off the road. She knew he was leaving out the really awful bits, but she didn’t blame him, she had done it too. In all of her messages, in her current life recap. She didn’t call to leave voice-mails when she got sick or came down with bronchitis for the hundredth time because she knew her voice would be horrible and even a single cough would make him worry. 

She shook her head however when he said if she got hurt it would be because of him. “I’m not going to get hurt, I’m smarter than that. And if there is trouble then you’re just going to have to protect me.”  

She laughed along to some stories, most stories, grinned and stole his pillow while he talked about his igloo disaster.  “You and the snow, I swear, you never get up to any good in the winter.” She teased. Tristan had been confined to mostly indoors when it was near freezing outside because her lungs just struggled too much. 

She chuckled and nodded as he got up to get something to drink. “Sure, I’ll take a water.” Shedding her sweater, the red head hung it over the handle of her tank and wandered into the kitchen where he was. “See that’s what happens when you have a two sided conversation with your best friend, you’ve given me some really good stories to tease you with now.” Tris took her glass with a smile and nodded in thanks.