Family Matters

It had been a few days since the altercation with his sister. Valerie had barely spoken a word to Leon since then. He'd given her space, knowing her like he did. But sooner or later they needed to talk. As he watched her cross the grounds of 'The Family's homestead, he figures sooner might as well be now.

"Hey, kid.." he says softly as he approaches her, tending to one of the many chores around the place. Everybody here earned their keep, it seemed.

"I'm not a kid." She huffily answers him, not lifting her head from folding clean laundry in to a basket.

Leon sighs and folds his arms, leaning against the sturdy tree beside them. "No, I guess you ain't anymore. But you'll always be my kid sister."

Valerie just grunts.

Swallowing his pride and better judgment, he forges onward. "I'm sorry about the other day, I didn't realize how close you'd gotten to these people. Just cause I don't know 'em doesn't mean you haven't found somewhere you feel like you belong. I shouldn't have tried to drag you away."

Valerie hesitates in what she's doing, finally looking at him out of the corner of her eye. He offers her a smile and it seems to break the ice between them a little.

"I just like it here, they don't treat me like a child." She shrugs her shoulders and returns to her task. Leon scratches the covering of stubble on his chin and concedes.

"No, I don't suppose they do." He glances around, spotting Isabella emerging from her roomy tent to fetch herself some water from the well. Inside the barn he could hear the voices of the street kids that had relocated here from the filth of Saint Denis, and the boy named Yuliy showing them how to clean the hooves of one of the horses. Learning. Belonging somewhere. On the surface of it it almost seemed like a haven.

He could appreciate that.

But his eyes drift across the patch of land, and spot Michael O'Driscoll standing on the porch of the main cabin, puffing smoke from a cigarette in to the mid evening air. He was like some kind of gargoyle, watching over them all with calculated, sinister eyes. Leon didn't trust him as far as he could conceivably pick up and throw a shire horse. It seemed like it was the other one - his 'partner' - Jake, that kept this ship on an even keel. It was certainly Jake that the others seemed to turn to when they needed something, while Michael oversaw it all from his tower.

"You just need to give them a chance." Valerie snaps him from his meandering thoughts and he blinks his attention back to her.

"I'll do that. Figured I'd stick around for a while, if you're okay with it." He agrees.

Valerie just smiles. The first he'd seen from her in a while. "You're sweet on Izzy, aintcha." She giggles mischief at him.

Leon just chuckles, unfolding his arms and pushing away from the tree to help her with her chore. "Mind your business."

She tosses a shirt in his face and he catches it, folding it and placing it in the basket. They finish up and as the last item of clean clothing is set neatly on the pile, Leon chances a harder question. "What happened out there.."

Valerie freezes.

"This.. test." He asks carefully. "I mean, if I'm going to stay.. you think they'll test me too?"

She looks at him. Her icy eyes haunted by a memory. The look makes something in his gut twist up tight.

"Could use a heads up on what I might be facing is all." He shrugs casually.

Valerie swallows, and when she speaks its in a whisper. Sharing a secret between the two of them. She quietly tells him of how Michael took her to the cabin and choked her until she fell unconscious. She passes it off as submitting to him. He wanted them all to know who was boss and to allow it. Leon felt his fists tightening to the point they ached.

"Did he.. do.. anything.." he asks in a quiet rumble.

She just stares, then clears her throat and shakes her head. "I woke up and he told me to run. So.. I ran."

He lets out a furious breath, but keeps a lid on his anger. "Kid thats.."

"I'm not a kid!" She snaps at him suddenly and rises to her feet, grabbing the basket she ignores him as he calls after her, stalking toward the bar.

Leon runs his hands over his face and in to his hair, growling under his breath. When he rises to his feet the first thing he spots is Michael, looming in the moonlight and finally stepped down from his porch. He had no idea where the man was heading, and no idea what he was going to do. But in that moment pure rage had a hold of him. He stalks toward the other man, past Isabella who clutches a bucket of water and watches in confusion as he doesn't respond to her 'Hey' and just keeps right on going.

Michael catches sight of him as he draws close, arching a brow.

"I'm going to kill you you son of a bitch, any last words?" Leon snarls, drawing his gun aiming it steadily between Michael's eyes.

It's not the first time Michael's had a gun on him and it shows. A smirk verging on amusement crossing his face as Isabella drops her bucket and hurries over to the altercation.

"You'll have to join the queue, there's a list of people way ahead of you that want me dead." Michael hisses.

"Leon, don't.." Isabella arrives at his side, holding her hand out to him. "Not like this."

"Why the hell not? I pull this trigger, this shits over. I get my sister back."

"You're wrong." Isabella placates steadily, "it'll just drive her further away. You know that."

"He put his fucking hands on her!" Leon shouts.

"I didn't do a goddamn thing to your sister." Michael sneers in return.

"But you were going to. What happens when your conscience runs out? I know men like you." Leon reaffirms his grip on the gun.

There's a glint in Michael's eyes. "I don't know if you noticed, but she isn't my type."

As he says it, Isabella lets out a yelp as Jake appears almost from nowhere. He snatches Leon's arm and wrenches the gun from his hand, tossing it aside with ease. Isabella's pleas fall on deaf ears as Jake's fist cracks Leon's jaw and sends him sprawling. The other man picks himself up fast and charges at Jake in return, spitting blood before tackling him to the ground.

Jake catches him with practiced ease, but the brawl is far from one sided. The newcomer cracks Jake in the nose and the pain of it sears through him, familiar and metallic tasting as blood filled his mouth. He uses it, spitting the mouthful of saliva and blood right in to Leon's eyes. He falls away and Jake is quick to his feet, grabbing Leon by the back of his shirt and hauling him up, he sends a fist in to his gut twice, winding him. Leon gasps for air.

"Do something!" Isabella yells at Michael, who simply runs a hand through his hair, amused.

Another crack of fist meeting jaw, and Leon tumbles to the ground.

Jake catches him by the back of the neck, getting in his face. "Point a gun at him again I'll rip your fucking face off and feed it to you. You're a guest.."

Leon snorts, "he touches my sister again.."

"Do you look like you're in any position to be making threats?" Jake hisses.

"Go fuck yourself." Leon strikes, an uppercut beneath Jake's jaw that cracks in the night. Jake staggers and centers quickly, swinging as Leon rises and splitting the skin at Leon's brow.

"STOP!" Isabella grabs Leon by the back of the shirt, dragging him with all her small might.

Michael finally steps in, catching Jake's arm as the two men seethe at each other.

"That's enough." Michael soothes quietly.

Jake seethes. "He pointed a gun at you."

"And hopefully he's learned his lesson." Michael smirks.

Leon lunges again, but Isabella places herself between them. "This isn't how you get your sister back."

It's a task. Separating the two. But between them, somehow, they manage it.

Michael corrals Jake toward the cabin, herding him inside. But not before Leon issues a final warning.

"Keep him the fuck away from Valerie."

Leaning over Michael's shoulder, Jake flips him the finger. "Get the fuck outta here."

"Alright, alright.. in.." Michael sighs, ushering Jake inside. The larger man stalks in to their home, Michael closes the door behind them.

Outside, Leon nurses his jaw as Isabella leads him away and toward her tent. "That was really stupid."

"Why are you protecting them?" He demands.

Izzy shoots him a look. "I'm protecting Val. You need Jake on side, not as your enemy."

Snorting, Leon slumps down on to a stool beside the campfire outside her tent. She fetches him a cloth and cool water. "Where'd you learn to fight like that?" she asks as she carefully cleans his wounds.

"It's a long story." He murmurs.

"I got time."