Chapter Seven: Extra Ordinary
5 YEARS AGO
VANYA TRUDGED ACROSS THE BUSY STREET AS noon started to roll around. She had just finished one of her practices for the orchestra and was heading back to her shared apartment. However, as she passed by
"My name is Vanya Hargreeves, and this is my story."
For days, weeks, maybe months, Vanya wrote whenever she could. Details about her less than stellar life were typed out on her trusty red typewriter as she poured her views and thoughts on her family onto the paper. Though she tried to keep this as quiet as possible, Vanya didn't want Jemma to see what she was doing. Eventually, she sent her manuscript to a publisher who ate up her biography like it was honey.
"We were never a real family. We were our father's creation, family in name... but not in fact."
Her story became a pretty big hit within its first week of release. People bought the book excitedly. They desperately wanted to read up on the lives of The Umbrella Academy after they seemingly disbanded a few years ago. Practically everyone knew about the Hargreeves family and their claim to fame as children. However, to read more about their lives during and after they were publicly revealed as the small team of child crime fighters was interesting. Add in the fact that apparently there were eight children instead of the seven that the public knew of, and you have a perfectly fascinating story for people to read.
"In the end, after our brother Ben had died, there was really nothing connecting us. We were just strangers living under the same roof..."
Of course, after the publication of her biography, the other Hargreeves children just had to get their own copies. It was obvious to say that they weren't exactly happy to see what exactly Vanya had to say about their lives.
"...destined to be alone..."
Luther, still at the academy, read the book while he did his daily workouts.
"...starved for attention..."
Allison read it while she was on set, which proved to be a bit of a problem for her makeup crew.
"...damaged by our upbringing..."
The more violent of the siblings, Diego, used Vanya portrait on the back of her book as a target for his punching bag.
At an AA meeting, Klaus sat with the book in his hand while his ghostly brother looked over his shoulder with his mouth agape.
"Oh, my God. She wrote that?" Ben gaped at the things that Vanya had to say about their abysmal childhood. "I can't believe she would do that."
"Shh!" Klaus tried to shush him only to earn some strange looks from the people around him.
"...and haunted by what might have been."
At a bar downtown, Jemma lazily sipped at her glass of beer as her eyes were glued to the book she laid out on the bar. All the bad parts of her family were now out in the open, including some very personal things about her own childhood. She wasn't exactly happy to know that her battle with depression and alcoholism was now public knowledge. She took a long swig of her drink and sighed heavily.
"We all wanted to be loved by a man incapable of giving love."
In the apocalypse, Five had been able to find a copy of her book from a collapsed library. A copy that hadn't been badly burned during the catastrophe that had killed off the entire planet's population. He honestly wasn't surprised at how horrible their lives had turned out to be. Though he was surprised that Vanya had decided to write a biography like this. Everyone must have been pissed about that.
"Our father never missed an opportunity to remind me that I was ordinary."
Reginald Hargreeves also received a copy of his ordinary daughter's book. Of course, he hadn't bought it himself. Vanya had sent it to him. The message; 'Dad, I thought, why not? -V' was written on the first page. However, Reginald didn't even turn to the first chapter. Instead, he left the book on a shelf in the living room where it would remain untouched by the man.
"A hard thing for a little girl to hear. If you're raised to believe nothing about you is special, if the benchmark is extraordinary, what do you do if you're not?"
Eventually, the sales for Vanya's book started to become less and less and people lost interest in it. The scandalous factor about the untold story of the mysterious Number Seven had lost its edge and people, more or less, moved on. So Vanya had to move on as well. She may have pissed off her family by revealing such private information about their lives to the public, but she felt like it was her right to do it if she wanted. After all, it was her childhood as well.
---
TODAY
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit." Vanya cursed as she ran as fast as she could towards the auditorium where she should have been over ten minutes ago. She was running late for her orchestra practice and knew that she would be in trouble if she didn't hurry up. The ordinary woman eventually made it through the doors only to find that the group had already started to practice without her. "Shit."
She hurried over to her spot as quick and quiet as possible as they continued to play without acknowledging her. Though as she got out her violin she made a little too much noise which caused the conductor to stop.
Vanya looked up with apprehension and apologized in a timid voice, "Um... I'm so sorry I'm late."
"I hadn't noticed," the conductor cleared his throat. A tense silence enveloped the group as Vanya continued to get her violin situated before the conductor tapped his baton on his stand. "From the top." The beautiful music then started again as Vanya watched the first chair violin, Helen Cho, begin her solo. Something that Vanya wished she would be able to do.
---
At the academy, Allison leaned against the wall behind Luther as she showed him what she had found on the tapes that Pogo had shown her. The taped replayed the final moments of Reginald's life as he collapses onto his bed as Grace walked back towards his door.
"Play it again," Luther said.
Allison shook her head with her arms crossed over her chest, "we've watched it over and over, Luther. It's the same every time."
Luther just sighed heavily as he tried to comprehend this new piece of evidence. Now that he had seen this, he knew that there was no way their father's death was just an accident or natural. It replayed again and he tried to see if there was anything distinctive in the grainy footage that would show exactly what had happened, "er... What is she doing?" He stammered out to Allison. "The tea. Did she poison him?"
"Uh, I don't know."
Luther turned to her, "Where did you find this?"
"I was looking at old footage of us as kids, and I saw the tape just sitting there."
"Yeah, Dad must have started using the security system again." Luther sighed out and started to explain, "He was getting more and more paranoid. He thought people were out to get him. Well... I guess maybe he was right."
This proves that their father's death was no way natural and that their mom may have had something to do with it. As much as Luther didn't want to admit it, Grace may have killed their father that night. It isn't clear exactly how or why she would do it, but they needed to find out.
A tense moment of silence passed over them before Allison shook her head in disbelief. "But mom? I mean, she's not capable of..." She stared at Luther and received an apprehensive look from him. Both of them were uncertain about this. "Is she?"
---
The sizzling of eggs and a light humming came from the android who was cooking breakfast for two of her children. Allison and Luther sat at the table. They shared a look with each other as their mother continued to cook breakfast for them. Both of them were slightly unnerved by her unbothered attitude ever since the funeral of their father.
"Mom?" Luther asked, "we need to ask you some questions about the night that Dad died. Do you remember anything?"
Grace slowly turned around to face them, "Of course. Sunset, 7:33 pm. Moon was waxing crescent, dinner was cornish hen, wild rice, and carrots."
Luther cut her off, "No. no, uh... later that night. In his bedroom. Did you go and see him?"
Grace seemed to think about how to respond for a second before smiling widely at the two, "I don't recall." She then turned back to her cooking as though that was the end of the conversation.
Seeing that they weren't really getting anywhere with her, Luther looked at Allison and silently gestured for her to speak as well. Allison, though reluctant, went along with it. "Were you ever... I don't know, angry with Dad?"
Grace scrapped the pan with more strength then she should have at the question. Though she didn't respond to the question right away, which threw up red flags. "Your father was a good man." She explained after she finally turned to them, "A kind man. He was very good to me."
Her wide smile was disturbing, to say the least. "Yes, but after we all left, it must have been difficult."
"Oh, there were days. You kids kept me oh so busy, and then..." She abruptly cut herself off as she stared off into space. That wasn't good. Her behavior was beyond concerning the two suspicious siblings.
"What?" Luther asked.
"Mom," Allison said, "what were you gonna say?
"Eggs are ready!" She exclaimed with a disturbing amount of enthusiasm and placed down the plates of two eggs and one piece of bacon that looked like a smiley face. "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Now, eat up. Both of you."
A few light footsteps then came from the stairs as a head of short blond hair popped out from the doorway and into the kitchen. "Morning," Jemma greeted with a small grunt. The obvious signs of a hangover were present in her slumped appearance. Though they would disappear in about an hour or two. Thank God for her fast metabolism.
She walked over to her siblings and mother and noticed the uncertain looks on their faces. "Oh, Jemma! I'll make you breakfast," Grace exclaimed and turned to make another plate of eggs and bacon for the woman.
Jemma nodded her head and plopped down on the chair next to Allison. She eyed her brother and sister as they watched their mother with narrowed eyes. "Everything okay?" She asked with pursed lips.
Luther and Allison shared a look with each other. Should they tell her about what they found? Jemma was their sister and she should get to know about what had happened to their father... However, maybe they should hold off on telling her. She was a tad bit more sensitive than the others and they didn't know how she would react to their findings. Besides Diego, she was also close to Grace so they already figured that she would not want to believe them.
"Yeah, of course," Luther cleared his throat before taking a bite of his eggs. Allison made sure to keep herself from looking at their sister lest she somehow gives themselves away before they need to.
Jemma hummed while looking at the two of them with a calculating stare. Though her suspicious looks and thoughts were broken when a glass of orange juice was placed in front of her. The blonde smiled widely, "Thanks, mom!"
---
Sirens drifted into the destroyed clothes store as red and blue lights danced across the parking lot. After someone had heard the commotion in the clothing store last night, the police had been called to check it out. Which was why over a few dozen officers were scouring the destroyed building for clues to what happened.
Among the officers were Detective Eudora Patch and, unsurprisingly, Diego. He may not be allowed there, but it seemed like the others at the scene were willing to look past it for now.
With that being said, Diego was currently looking at some of the bullet casings that had been left by the shooters. Eudora walked over to him after talking to another officer and sighed. "Do you seriously still not understand the chain of custody? If you touch it, I can't use it."
"Let me save you some time running ballistics." Diego said as he stood up with one of the casings in hand, "These nine-millimeters haven't been manufactured since 19-"
"1963. Odd, I know." Eudora cut him off, "Matching casings were found at a murder scene last night. Ishmael's Towing."
Diego raised an eyebrow at that information, "The driver?"
"Found him hanging from the ceiling. Looks like he must have known something after all." The image of what she had found at the business last night. It was quite a horrific sight to see. The older tow truck driver had been chained up to the ceiling with obvious signs of torture. Whatever had started to happen in her city, it was going to not only be difficult to find out what had happened, but certainly frustrating.
"It's a shame nobody told you to go talk to him," Diego commented.
The detective rolled her eyes at him. She honestly had no idea how she dealt with Diego without shooting him in the foot. "In the span of twenty-four hours, I've had attacks in three different places across town. Whatever this is, whoever this is, they're not slowing down. So, if you really give a shit and you've got any fresh ideas, I'm all ears."
The vigilante smiled knowing that she would now hear him out. It's a shame it took a few more shootings for it to happen, but he'll make due. "The guy's kid, in the doughnut shop?"
Eudora nodded her head, "I've got units tracking the extended family in case anyone goes after him."
"Well, this place must have surveillance footage."
"No, it doesn't exist." The detective said, "The first unit on the scene clocked two shooters fleeing the premises, wearing, get this, creepy kids' masks."
Diego stared at her for a moment with wide eyes at the tidbit of information. Weird. He chuckled, "The city is really going to shit, huh?"
Eudora scoffed at the super-powered man, "Coming from the guy dressed in spandex?"
"It's not spandex, it's leather." Diego denied before smiling cheekily, "And you used to like it. A lot, if I recall."
Eudora groaned unhappily at the reminder of that. "God, please unremember that."
Diego smirked, "Etched into the data bank, Eudora."
"And we're done." She rolled her eyes and started to walk away from the vigilante.
"Yeah, well, you go fill out your forms while I go hunt these animals down. And, Detective," Diego called out, "I do give a shit." With that, Diego made his way out of the building to start his search. Eudora couldn't help herself but smile at his retreating figure before turning around herself to leave.
Eudora's partner, Chuck Beeman, walked over to her with a chuckle as he pointed after Diego. "I still can't get over the fact that you two used to-"
"Not another word, Beeman." She grunted as she walked off, "Not another damn word."
---
After practice, Vanya was just as unsatisfied as normal. The practice was like the rest before them. No matter how hard Vanya tried to show what talent she had, she was always pushed aside. Third chair wasn't exactly where she wanted to be, but she had to deal with it. However, it didn't give her many opportunities to show what she was really capable of.
Though at the moment, she was entering the bathroom. As she approached the sinks, she found the first chair of the violin section, Helen Cho. The Asian woman was quite pretty with long black hair and clear skin. She was just about everything that Vanya had wanted to be. While Helen was chosen to be the best violin player, Vanya was, more or less, told that she wasn't as good as she believed. It may be said that Vanya most likely admired her for her talent, and wish to be like her.
"Helen..." Vanya started off sheepishly as she approached the Asian woman. "You were great today. Really, really great."
Helen barely spared her a glance, "Thanks."
Vanya continued on, "It's those runs in the Stravinsky. I've been hacking at them for weeks, and you just make-"
"Make them look easy?" Helen cut her off and sighed in annoyance. "What's your name again?"
She blinked for a second before stuttering out her name, "Vanya."
"Vanya. And how many years have you been stuck at third chair?" Vanya stared at the woman with wide eyes. Helen just sighed at the blatant confusion from Vanya, "At a certain point, it's not about practice. It's whether you've got something special. And maybe you just... don't." It was obvious that her words were affecting the ordinary woman. Who wouldn't be affected by someone saying that they weren't actually good at what they love to do? "You can put in your ten thousand hours, or... you can go find something you're actually passionate about and stop slogging away at Stravinsky like a scared thirteen-year-old. Think it over." Helen finished before grabbing her violin case and leaving.
Vanya was left by herself as she mulled over Helen's words.
---
Cha-Cha winced as she used a hair curler to cauterize the wound that she had sustained from their fight with Number Five. That little asshole had used a trowel to slice into her upper arm, and the assassin was not happy about that. She has sustained many injuries in her line of work, but she was quite annoyed with this one. Not only was it done by a kid, but it was a kid with superpowers! Powers that they were not told about. She would have definitely liked to have a heads up about that when they were tasked with killing the rogue assassin.
Hazel, lucky enough to not get any injuries during their fight, was lounged on one of the beds in the motel. He was flipping through reality shows on the television with mild interest.
Cha-Cha fixed her shirt and walked over to her partner, "I don't understand how you can watch this crap."
"You don't find it interesting," Hazel asked as he motioned to the television, "how ordinary people live their lives? They're agonizing over kitchen cabinets as if the entire fate of the universe rests on whether they choose azure blue or asparagus green."
"And your point is?" Cha-Cha raised an eyebrow.
Hazel shrugged his shoulders and munched on some snacks, "Sometimes there's beauty in the mundane, you know?"
To be honest, Hazel somewhat craved having such a simple life that normal people had. Worrying about bills, taxes, a normal job seemed to be appealing to him. Instead of having to constantly look behind his back and killing people who didn't really seem all that bad. Hazel didn't like the killing part that went into his job, but he went with it. After all, it paid well enough.
The woman scoffed and motioned around the room, "Well, then, this is the most beautiful room I've ever seen."
There was then a strange sound emanating from the other room. The two entered the bathroom and found that HQ had sent a message to them. Opening the tile in the shadow wall, Hazel opened up the small compartment and opened up the small cylinder that held the message from the higher-ups in it.
"Seven percent reduction in payment due to job delay. Further reduction every 24 hours until job completion. That is just..." Hazel groaned in frustration as he crumpled up the message. "I mean... It's only been one lousy day. Let's see 'em get out from behind their desks, get their hands dirty for once. Damn lazy bastards."
Cha-Cha tilted her head, "Are you done?" She was just as frustrated about this as Hazel. However, she was more level headed about it.
Hazel sighed heavily as he collected himself, "Yeah."
"Well, let's get back out there and kill this little shit."
---
"Jesus Christ!" Five looked up to find his blonde sister watching him with wide eyes as she came into his room. Jemma had just been heading back to her room to change clothes when she passed by Five's room. Only she wasn't expecting to see her young-looking brother stitching up his upper arm with blood dripping from a wound that he must have gotten from being shot at.
Five groaned but continued on with his work, "go away Jemma."
"Go away? Go away?!" Jemma stormed into the room with her voice rising in pitch, "What the hell Five?"
"You don't have to be concerned with this."
His monotone attitude with his own injury disturbed her. Why did he think that him getting hurt wasn't a big deal? First off, she wanted to know how he got hurt. Second, she wanted to know who had done this, so she could pay them back for hurting her brother who had just reappeared after seventeen years. "Uh, no. You're my brother and you're hurt, so I am going to be concerned! What the hell happened?"
"You don't need to know," Five rolled his eyes in exasperation.
Jemma stared at him in disbelief and came further into his room, much to his dismay. She took a loud gulp from her bottle and looked at him with hazy yet alarmed eyes. Five observed that she wasn't too far from any sort of alcohol. It had only been a few days, but he had almost always seen her with some whiskey or beer or something that contained alcohol. Though it wasn't like he cared all that much. "Does this have to do with the... apocalypse?"
Five paused for a moment and looked up at her. So she was paying attention when he talked about it the other day. Honestly, he thought that she was going to be just like Klaus and focus more on trying to get her next drink than what he had to say. Though he should have expected her to not be exactly like Klaus. He vaguely knew what Jemma had gone through emotionally while he was in the future, but she must have not changed completely since he last saw her as a kid. She was just as much as a worrywart now as she was back then.
"Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't."
"Oh, no." She groaned out and plopped herself down on the floor where she sat with her legs crossed. She wasn't drunk yet and barely buzzed which meant she was sober enough to properly process what was happening. It also meant she could talk a bit clearer about the topic at hand easier. She had planned on maybe getting drunk before heading back over to her apartment. However, now she had to worry about what exactly Five had been getting up to ever since he got back. "It does."
Five disregarded her and put a bandaid over his wound. "You should just go back to drowning in your alcohol, Jem."
Jemma resisted the urge to flinch at his rude tone. "No, no, no. No, I'm not going to."
"Don't you have something else to be doing?"
"Well, I was going to maybe see Vanya. She's been a bit... upset since the funeral."
"Then go check on her already." Five rolled his eyes as he started to put his uniform back on, "pretty sure you both live together, right?"
Jemma nodded her head as she pursed her lips as sadness seemed to well up in her eyes. "We do, but Vanya doesn't like it when I'm drunk so I usually stay somewhere else."
"You? Drunk?" The idea of his precious sister, one of the most innocent people who apologized every time she punched someone, being inebriated was baffling. Ever since he had read about how she had gone down a path of depression and could understand why someone who turn to alcohol for it. However, Jemma had far too much emotion and ended up being coming addicted, much to their family's dismay. Though seeing it with his own eyes was... almost upsetting.
Jemma seemingly caught onto his thoughts by the look plastered on his face. "Things've been shit, Five." She started with a sad sigh while running a hand through her short hair. "Things have gone downhill and, if you haven't noticed, we've all changed, mostly for the worst." Jemma scoffed lazily, "I mean; I'm an alcoholic, Klaus is a junkie, Diego's a brooding idiot, Luther's been stuck on the moon for nearly five years, Allison's life is falling apart, everyone hates Vanya and," She sighed before gulping, "Ben's dead." She allowed her sorrow to swallow her completely like a tidal wave and pull her down further into depression. She brushed it off though and took a swig of her drink, "and now you're telling me the world's going to end?" Five stared at his sister with a blank expression before nodding his head, "Fan-fucking-tastic." She threw her head back and downed the remainder of her drink.
"Well," he pulled on his blazer and grabbed the duffle bag that held Delores in it. "Just go back home or something, Jem. Forget we even talked about this."
"What, Five-" She watched as he opened up his bedroom window and climbed out of it without saying anything else. She huffed at his retreating figure and glared at nothing in particular. "He's become a complete ass!"
Outside on the fire escape, Five climbed down to the alleyway where he was hoping to make a quick getaway. Having Jemma find him in his room with his injury was not something he was happy that had happened. If anything, it was extremely annoying. However, he hoped that talking to her would be all that he would be running into. Yet it seemed like the universe was truly against him.
"Damn it, where's Dad's stuff?" Klus exclaimed as he rummaged through the dumpster he had thrown the papers he had taken the other day in.
Above him, Ben sat on the fire escape watching his brother wallow through garbage trying to find what he had thrown out for some money. "Can we go see a movie or something?" Ben asked though Klaus was the only one who could actually hear him, "or the ocean?"
"Shut up!" Klaus groaned, "I'm trying to find whatever... priceless crap was in that priceless box so that Pogo will get off my ass!"
Five climbed down the ladder as he watched his brother seemingly talk to air. "I'd ask what you're up to, Klaus, but then it occurred to me... I don't care."
"Hey!" Klaus laughed at the arrival of his other brother, "you know there are easier ways out of the house, buddy?"
"This one involved the least amount of talking." Five hopped down from the ladder and stuck his hands in his pockets. "Or so I thought."
Klaus leaned over the side of the dumpster and stared down at Five with wide eyes. "Hey, hey, hey, so... You need any more company today? I could, uh... clear my schedule."
Five just scoffed, "looks like you've got your hands full."
"Oh, this? No, no. I can do this whenever. I'm just-" Klaus then fell back into the dumpster and began his rummaging. "I just misplaced something. That's all. Oh!" He popped back up holding half of a glazed donut. "Found it! Thank God!" Klaus then slowly took a bit of it. Why he does the things he does is a mystery to just about everyone. "Delicious."
"I'm done funding your drug habit," Five said before turning around and starting to stock off.
"Come on! You don't- Maybe I just wanna hang out with my brother. Not you." He commented to their ghostly brother who now sat on the edge of the dumpster. "¡Mi hermano! I love you! Even if you can't love yourself!" As Klaus called out to Five, the boy had jumped into a van for a plumbing company and started to drive it off.
---
Now alone, Five sat in his stolen truck across the street from Meritech. He obviously wasn't going to give up on his mission to stop the apocalypse. Even though the prosthetic eye that he had from the future was
The young-looking assassin then remembered something, "Oh, shit." He opened up his duffle bag and gingerly pullled his life-long companion, Delores, out of it. "Hey. Sorry you were in there for so long, Delores." He paused and then scowled as if the mannequin had said something. "No, I'm not drunk. I'm working." He paused again and listened to Delores. "Yes, it's about the eye thing. This is the place it was made. Or... will be made. We just have to wait."
It appears that during his time in the future, Five had most likely gone crazy. Well, crazy enough to have a conversation with a mannequin who certainly would not actually reply. Honestly, it was quite understandable for him to be like this. After all, he had been alone for decades! He needed to have someone to talk to while living through the aftermath of the apocalypse. Either way, his mental state wasn't within question at the moment. Five just settled in with Delores to start their stakeout of the medical building to hopefully find a clue to the mystery of the prosthetic eye.
---
In the academy, Allison and Luther stood in the living room. Luther's bulky figure paced slightly in front of Allison who leaned against the couch as they discussed what they were to do with their mother.
"I don't like this any more than you do, but she's hiding something," Luther said strongly. Number One, ever the suspicious leader, wanted nothing more than to investigate Grace. She obviously is acting weird since their father's death and after finding that tape of what had happened to Reginald, there was no way Luther was just going to let this go.
"Hiding?" Allison asked, "To me, she just sounded confused."
Luther turned to her with conviction burning in his eyes. "Well, uh... You saw the tape. Grace knew what she was doing."
"Grace?" Allison scoffed, "This morning, she was Mom."
"She's a machine, Allison." Luther continued to deny any sort of emotional attachment to the android that had acted as their caretaker their whole lives.
"Who read to us and cleaned up after us and put us to bed." She insisted, "And then we left her here, alone, in this house for 13 years. I mean, no wonder she lost her mind. To be away from your kids?" There was obviously something underneath her words. A sort of sympathy that she was able to connect to with Grace. It obviously had something to do with her own daughter, Claire.
Luther sighed as his voice softened, "Hey, what happened with... Claire? With Patrick? You never told me."
"Yeah," Allison ground out, "I don't wanna talk about it."
It saddened Luther that she wasn't willing to open up to him about her emotions. They always did that since they were little. It seemed like after all this time, they had grown far apart. "It's just... when we were kids, we used to sit in here and tell each other everything."
"Yeah, and then we grew up." Allison snapped before sighing, "Things got ugly between Patrick and me. Now the court says I have to do this mandatory therapy thing before I can have visitation."
Luther furrowed his eyebrows, "What for?" He stared at her for a short moment before it finally dawned on him. He let out a breath, "You used your power on her."
"I mean, there were days where she'd have these epic meltdowns." Allison started to explain with a far off look and sat down on the couch opposite to Luther, "And no matter what I said, she wouldn't stop. She was three then, and I... I know that's what three-year-olds are supposed to do. So I said I would do it that one time. Only it wasn't just that one time." Slowly but surely, tears started to collect in her eyes. "I told myself any... parent with my power would do the same. That it wasn't wrong. I just had an advantage. I mean, from the time I was little, I used it to get everything I wanted."
"Mm-hmm."
She continued, "With Dad, with my career... But now, I know nothing in my life was real. So I'm starting over. I just didn't think it would be so hard."
"It'll get easier. Some things just take time."
"Yeah. And some things just stay broken."
Unknown to either of them, the only other sibling in the house was leaning against the wall right outside of the living room. Jemma's eyebrows were furrowed as she listened to their suspicion of Grace and Allison's situation. Of course, Jemma wasn't sure why her siblings were suspicious of their mother and wanted to question them about it. However, she knew that they probably wouldn't tell her.
Jemma likes to say that she was honest with everyone. At least, far more truthful than any of her family. Though that wasn't true, for painfully obvious reasons. Though she at least hoped that her family would be honest with her. There were many times where their father kept them in the dark about things and hide secrets from the, so Jemma had faith that her siblings wouldn't be the same. Yet her faith wasn't enough. Even she wasn't truthful about herself. Hiding her alcoholism and her depression for years from most of her family. At least, her depression had gotten a bit better, but she still had a problem with drinking.
Anyway, that wasn't what was the topic at the moment. What was the topic was the fact that Allison and Luther thought that their mother is hiding something from them. What it could be, Jemma wasn't sure, and it worried her slightly.
Before she could lose herself in her own thoughts, she sighed and plastered a smile on her face. Hiding her own suspicion would be a good idea for the moment, she thought. She would give them a little bit to collect their findings or whatever and give them a chance to tell her eventually. If they don't, then she will ask them about it. However, she can wait for a short while.
She rounded the corner into the living room with a smile as she greeted her siblings. "Hey, guys!"
The cheeriness that she displayed may have been a little too much, however, it didn't tip off Luther or Allison. Jemma was just generically a cheerful person, even when she was drinking. The first thing they would think was that she most likely was drunk. A good enough cover for her at the moment.
"Hi, Jemma," Luther said curtly as Allison quickly wiped away the tears in her eyes.
The blonde turned to her sister, "do you want to come with me to find Vanya?"
Allison tilted her head as the idea caused her to grimace. The last time she saw Vanya, it wasn't that good. After all, she had said some mean things to her the other day. "Why?"
"Oh come on, Ali!" Jemma whined and grabbed the taller woman's arm, "I've got to go to the apartment to get some clothes and I haven't seen her in a day or so, please!"
"Maybe you should go," Luther said to Allison when he thought of something, "bring her back here so we can talk about mom."
Jemma looked at Luther with her eyes narrowing slightly, "What's wrong with mom?"
Luther also narrowed his eyes, though it was more obvious than Jemma, "Why do you think there's something wrong with her?"
"I don't know..."
Allison, seeing the tension growing between Jemma and Luther, clapped her hand together to get their attention. "I guess we can go find her. I've got to apologize to her anyway."
"Okay!" Jemma exclaimed and started to pull Allison out of the living room to head out and find their other sister.
---
Vanya ventured down the slightly busy sidewalk in the Bricktown district. After practice, she had started to walk aimlessly around until she found herself in front of Leonard's shop. Imperial Woodwares, it was called. By looking through the windows she could tell that he wasn't there, but that he also did a good job with woodwork. It was slightly impressive.
Just as Vanya came to the conclusion that she should leave, Leonard himself came waltzing over to her. "You're still lookin' for Mr. Puddles," he joked.
She was speechless for a moment before finally being able to stutter out a reply, "I- I got out of rehearsal and was in the neighborhood, so I thought... I-"
He raised an eyebrow, "Came all the way to Bricktown?" Vanya was obviously a little nervous to be there, much to Leonard's amusement. She shrugged awkwardly before he smirked a little. He then gestured to his shop. "Well, since you're here, you might as well come in."
Seeing all of the things that Leonard had no doubt made, Vanya complimented him, "These are beautiful."
"Ah, thank you." He smiled and took off his coat, "Restoration antiques. It's my bread and butter. But I do play around with other things."
"Like what?"
He paused for a second and turned back to her. "Oh... I don't know. It's kind of embarrassing. Come on." He then led Vanya to the back of the shop behind a curtain. There, he showed her a few of his other carvings. Most were quite a bit more intricate than those in the front of the shop.
Vanya looked at them all with interest, "You made all these?"
"When I was a kid, my imagination was my escape." He explained with a chuckle, "And, clearly, I never grew up."
"No, it's amazing." It was obvious that he had a passion for this, just like she had a passion for the violin. "Which one is your favorite?"
"Ballerina is kind of my best. Or maybe the duck." He then shook his head jokingly. "Or the other duck. Or the other duck. But there is one you should see." He walked over to a different shelf and grabbed another carving. He then showed it to her, to her amazement.
"Is that...?" She stared in disbelief at the sight of the carving. It was of a woman playing the violin. Obviously meant to be her. It was flattering that he had made this after only knowing her for a short time.
Leonard chuckled slightly, "Okay, so I might have... stayed up last night making this."
"Wow." Vanya breathed out, still stunned, "It's beautiful."
"Thank you." He then held it out for her, "Take it."
"Oh, no. I..."
"I insist. Please. I made it for you." There was a small pause before he continued to speak. However, there was a slight tenseness to his voice that Vanya had missed. "You inspired me." Vanya continued to stare at the gift that he had given her. So she never noticed the carving of a woman, with short hair, appearing to be running, with a domino mask on.
---
"This is so bizarre. We've known each other for... two days?" Vanya chuckled as they walked along the sidewalk after exiting Leonard's shop, "I feel like you know me better than anyone in my family."
"Hey," Leonard said as the two stopped to turn towards each other. "This might be a little inappropriate, seeing as I'm your... impressionable young student, but... would you want to have dinner with me tonight? You don't have to if you don't want to."
There was a tone in his voice, a sort of disgruntled tone. Like he almost wanted her to decline his offer. Though why ask if he wanted her to say no? Once again, Vanya missed his tone and nodded her head, much to his slight dismay.
"Yeah," she agreed.
"It's fast..."
"No, I-"
"...I know, but..."
"I'd like that." Vanya finally said, settling it.
"Yeah?" Leonard asked with a tight smile.
Before either of them could continue talking, they both looked up at the sound of heels clicking on the sidewalk. Surprisingly, it was Vanya's famous sister.
Vanya blinked a few times at her arrival. "Allison?"
"Hey." Allison greeted sheepishly with a small wave. She casted a glace at the man next to Vanya with a calculating and questioning gleam in her eyes.
Vanya gestured to the woman and introduced the two to each other. "Leonard, this is my sister, Allison."
There was a tense moment as the two smiled politely at each other before Leonard snapped his fingers. "Wait a second, I know you. You were in that movie. You're in the movie, the... You were the lawyer. The tough one in the wheelchair, right?"
Allison smiled bashful at being recognized, "Yeah. Yeah, that was me."
Leonard turned to Vanya, "You didn't tell me your sister was a movie star. Wow!" He then thought of something else that Allison was quite famous for. "You were in that Umbrella thing, too, weren't you?" He pointed at Vanya, "But you weren't in that, were you?"
Vanya sighed tensely at the remindsr, "No, uh... I was sort of the fifth Beatle of the family, so..."
"I never really did like the Beatles. More of a Stones guy, myself."
They were silent for the moment before Allison cleared her throat, "Um, I'm sorry to interrupt, but, uh... could you come back to the house? We're having a family meeting."
"And you guys want me there?" Vanya asked skeptically. Most of the time she wasn't even considered for things like this. Even before she distanced herself from her family. Really the only one who included her in just about everything was Jemma.
"Of course." Allison nodded. "It's about Mom."
That certainly got Vanya to agree to go back home. She turned to Leonard, "I'm so sorry. I-"
"Oh, don't be." He cut her off, though with a sigh of relief, "We'll do a rain check on dinner. Bye." He then turned to leave the two sisters by themselves.
"Thanks."
Allison pursed her lips as she watched the mystery man walk away, "Who's the guy?"
"He's a..." Vanya tried to come up with something that would describe the man she literally just met yesterday, "just a friend."
Allison raised a suspicious eyebrow, "Friend?"
"No, it's not..." The ordinary woman shook her head as she saw the mischievous look in her sister's eyes. Though she remembered how her last interaction with her sister, she pursed her lips. "Maybe I'm just trying to not separate myself from everything and everyone."
Allison sighed and gulped "I'm... I'm sorry." She started to apologize, "I shouldn't have said those things to you yesterday. I was angry with Patrick, and I... I took it out on you. I'm really sorry. I'm, uh... I'm not good at this whole sister thing."
"I hadn't noticed."
"Ouch." Allison chuckled at Vanya's remark, "Tell me how you really feel."
"Maybe I will," Vanya said with a smirk.
The two chuckled, "Okay!"
"Hey, V," the timid voice of their other sister suddenly sounded as she walked over to them sheepishly. The blonde chuckled, "we didn't find you at the apartment, but I remembered you had practice today."
Vanya smiled slightly at Jemma. She figured that, currently, Jemma was sober. Well, sober enough to be out and about like this which was good. She even looked good with her jeans, light green blouse, converse, and bright complexion. It was quite amazing to see her like this.
"uh, yeah, I- Sorry about just leaving you at the academy..."
Jemma waved her hand, "don't worry about it!" Honestly, Jemma wasn't bothered by the fact that Vanya left her the other night by herself. She had been quite drunk so she didn't remember it completely, but she did know that Vanya had been a bit ticked. So while she didn't like the fact that Vanya had just left without saying anything, she has gotten over it.
Vanya was glad that Jemma wasn't bothered by it. So the trio of sisters started to make their way to a restaurant to spend some time together. It was far overdue for the three to finally spend some time together. Though Jemma and Vanya were used to being together. They did share an apartment together, after all. Though they were all ready to spend time together just as sisters should.