Control {The Umbrella Academy} *Complete*

Chapter 11

Leta held herself together, the shock of the moment seeping into her skin as she sat there on the step. Klaus shook her shoulder a bit, grabbing her attention from the future that was yet to come.

"You doing alright Lee?" His face was riddled with concern as he looked at her. She nodded slightly, putting her now aching head down into her hands.

"Yeah. Migraine I think." She muttered. He knew she was lying.

"Yeah. Come on, let's go sit somewhere inside. There's a bar down the street and they're pretty quiet this time of day." she nodded, extremely appreciative of his suggestion.

"Sounds good Klaus."

The two made their way down the street to a dinky bar named Bunkers. Once they arrived the thud of her heartbeat started to slow down inside emher skull. "Well have a basket of chicken wings and two beers." She told the waiter before digging into her pocket and pulling out an aspirin.

"That was quite the performance you put on at Meritech, I don't think I've ever seen someone so devious." She laughed, tossing the aspirin into her mouth and swallowing it thickly.

"Well, I guess being a psychologist helps when you're tricking people." Klaus gaped open his mouth with a smile at this.

"Hold on, you're in college?" He was obviously impressed.

"Was. You're looking at a Doctor of early developmental psychology with specializations in behavioral disorders and trauma. Can you guess why?" They both had a bit of a chuckle at that. It didn't take away the impressive news to him though.

"Man. Never would I have thought that someone from our screwed up family would be something so... normal. A psychologist. I guess it makes sense. People always were easy for you to understand." She smiled a bit, grabbing the beer that had been delivered to the table and putting it up to her lips.

"Yeah. Getting people is kind of my thing. Of course, it doesn't make them like you unfortunately. I've had to climb many mountains because I passed off the wrong person."

"I know a thing or two about pissing off people myself. Guess it's a family trait." He reached over and grabbed a wing to start to eat. He was ravenous. When was the last time he had had the chance to eat something?

"Well don't sell yourself short. You were quite the persuader in there too. I honestly thought that guy was just gonna spontaneously combust or something he looked so terrified." Klaus shoved himself up, crossing his legs in the booth as he did so.

"Well, street life requires a little crazy."

"As does normal life." They sighed, looking down at the table.

"I'm glad I never made you hate me Klaus. For a while I thought I did." She swirled around her beer, watching the slightly bubbling waves crash into the walls.

He flicked his eyes up at her for a moment before taking a swig of his own. "I don't think there's anything you could do to make me hate you." Leta peeled the damp label off her bottle. "In fact, I was about the only one who didn't believe Dad when he told us you ran away."

Her heart sunk, the words hung in the air like smog. "He told you what?" She leaned back, eyes wide as she looked at Klaus.

He shuffled awkwardly in her gaze. "You didn't know?" She shook her head, a new wave of shock rolling over her body. She sunk down a bit in the seat.

"What did he say?"

Klaus swallowed the lump in his throat as he looked at her. She seemed so small. "He said when he got up to wake everyone that morning, he came into your room and just found it empty. No note, no sign of any sort of hurry. You were just gone, all of your things packed. He said you had left because you were finally an adult. That you didn't have to pretend like you were a part of us anymore. That you were free." He put his hands into his lap, swirling his thumbs as he remembered that morning. "I never believed him though. You would never have just left us. Eventually I heard from Diego that you had moved in with him, depressed out of your mind because he had kicked you out. I spread it on. So everyone knows now. But I think some of them are still kind of hurt."