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Five was in his room in the academy writing on the walls. He needed to make sure everything was stabilized now that the apocalypse had been averted and Viktor’s powers were under control. Almost. After all, what was the point of only delaying it for a month if you didn’t know it was going to blow up again in a month? He climbed onto the dresser to reach the wall near the ceiling, ignoring Dolores’s soft chiding. Five looked over his shoulder to where she was sitting on the bed propped up with pillows against the headboard. “I am being careful. Now let me focus,” He snapped at her before turning back to the wall. Five wrote another line before sighing and turning around fully to face her, “I’m sorry, you’re right. I can afford to take an extra second to be careful, and even then that’s no excuse to get mad at you,” Five smiled softly at her, “I’ll be careful.”
He turned back to the wall much slower than he did when he was climbing onto the furniture and started to write again. Outside the room, he could hear the faint sound of his siblings’ voices. He couldn’t hear the words from deep inside the house behind the closed door, but there was no urgency in their voices, no tension. Everything was the way it should be. He continued working while Delores hummed softly in the background. He wasn’t sure how long he had been writing when the door suddenly opened and startled Five off the dresser. Before he could fall more than a few inches he blinked and landed standing casually facing the door.
Diego was there looking at him with a slightly confused expression. “There’s someone here looking for you?” Five blinked. Looking for him? Did he even know anyone in this time? “Cool, so you don’t know who it is either. Might as well come and meet her.” He followed Diego down the stairs trying to think of any women that might want to see him. Maybe someone he knew from when he was a child? But there wasn’t anyone he was that close to then.
He and Diego walked into the main room and he saw all his siblings sitting around the room. Allison was sitting on the sofa with Luther and Viktor on either side of her. Klaus was on the floor in front of the couch even though there were other open chairs. On the other side of the room, there was a woman with short curly white hair, an immaculate black dress ending just below her knees, and a matching hat perched on her head. Five straightened his shoulders, he should’ve guessed. “Handler,” he blinked into the open chair in front of her, “What could you possibly want from me?” Five smiled the smile he knew other people found uncomfortable as he stared into her eyes.
The Handler smiled her own unnerving smile “Oh Five,” she raised her hand and placed it on a little girl sitting next to her. Five had not even noticed her presence until this moment. She was small, probably six years old at most, with black hair braided into a single tail over one shoulder. She had dark skin and green eyes. Eyes that were sharp and familiar. When she noticed Five’s attention she tilted her face down in shyness, but her eyes stayed trained on Five. Something about the way she was sitting reminded Five of the Handler. The confidence even when there shouldn’t be any. The way she met Five’s eyes and then flicked them around the room as if taking stock of everyone. If he didn’t know better he would say this girl was the Handler’s daughter, but there’s no way that was true. Afterall, the Handler only accepted the best. She didn’t have time for useless endeavors like raising a child on the off chance that the child might meet her expectations. Of course, the Handler also has full access to all of the Commission’s resources. If she did want a child, she could simply take the DNA of the best and combine them, ensuring her child’s superiority. Immediately, Five discarded that idea too, there were no agents that impressed the Handler. Every single one, except for himself, fell short of her expectations. “We have so much to catch up on,” the Handler finished, her hand stroking the child’s face proprietarily.
So she was the mother of this child. That was surprising, but there was no other reason she would be so possessive of the child. Five looked at her familiar green eyes again and suddenly he knew why they were familiar. He let out a harsh breath. Surely there was no way. Except there was, after all, he was the best. He cursed himself for not recognizing it sooner, but he had gone years without mirrors in the apocalypse, he should be forgiven for not instantly understanding. Still, he needed confirmation, “Why are her eyes green?” Five asked looking at the Handler as her smile grew.
…
The day was peaceful so far. Mom had made pancakes for breakfast and they had spent the time since just enjoying each other’s company. Allison was with Luther and Viktor on the couch a few feet away from where Diego was sitting with Klaus at the bar. He had been listening to Klaus tell a story about Ben from a few years ago, but really Diego had stopped listening a while ago. “So then,” Klaus threw his hands up dramatically, “Ben told me to negotiate with the zombies because he knows I’m the only one they would ever accept as their true master. But they– No Ben I’m telling the story” Klaus broke off to yell at the air beside him. Diego couldn’t stop the smile that came across his face knowing that Ben was right there and part of the conversation again after all these years of not being able to talk to him.
Klaus continued arguing with the air until Diego cut him off “So what did you say to the library zombies then?”
Klaus blinked, “You were listening?”
“Of course I’m listening,” Diego retorted offended. The fact that he had only heard about three sentences was irrelevant, “You were telling me about how Ben convinced you to sneak into the library after hours and ran into zombies you had to fight. So how did your negotiation go?” Diego looked at Klaus promising himself he would give his whole attention to Klaus’s story about some weird acid trip he had been on.
“Uhh, you know I made that up cuz I thought you weren’t listening right? There were no actual zombies in the library. Zombies aren’t real Diego.” Klaus looked at him with a pitying face. Diego closed his eyes and took a deep breath gripping his knife tighter in an effort not to throw it. It could accidentally hit the person sitting closest to him after all.
Before he could say anything though, the sound of the doorbell echoed through the house. He immediately stood up, “I’ve got it,” he said waving Luther to sit back down. He was going to hurt someone if he kept talking to Klaus any longer. It’s a miracle Ben was still sane after how much time he spent around Klaus. Actually, Diego mused while unlocking the door, was Ben still sane? Maybe they should check somehow to make sure.
He opened the door to a woman in her mid-40s in a black dress and matching hat. In one hand there was a fancy looking pipe and the other was holding the hand of a little girl with dark skin in a similar black dress looking up at him with curious eyes. “Hello, I’m looking for Number Five. Is he here?”
“Yeah, but who—” the woman brushed past him without waiting for permission and walked into the house like she owned it. “Wait!,” Diego cried following after her. The commotion attracted the attention of the remainder of his family, but because they were idiots, they just stood there and let the strange woman and child walk past them while staring as she made herself comfortable in the living room.
“Well, go get him,” she waved her hand at him effectively dismissing him. Diego scowled and brought the hand with the knife in it up. Then he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. This is Five’s friend. Maybe. She could die later if she needed to. Decision made, Diego made his way to Five’s room who blinked directly in front of him as soon as he opened the door. How did Five know Diego was going to open the door just then? Some weird time travel side effects maybe. At least seeing Five confused when he explained about the guest made Diego feel a little better at being completely unable to handle the woman’s behavior.
As soon as they walked into the room, Five greeted her and blinked into a chair. He would comment on how ‘Handler’ was a weird name, but his name was Two so there was really no reason to comment on strange names. Diego leaned against a pillar off to the side where he could see everyone so he could make sure the woman wasn’t a threat. Just because Five knew her didn’t make her safe, in fact, it probably made her unsafe. She had only said a single sentence when Five went pale glancing at the child before looking back at Handler. “Why are her eyes green?” Five asked with a shaky voice.
Diego didn’t like that tone and moved closer to his family, but also what kind of question was that. Handler just kept doing her creepy smile thing, “You truly are the best Five,” She petted the child’s head again.
Five’s face grew paler then switched to anger, “You had no right to do this.” Handler burst out in laughter while Five scowled harder. At this point, Diego had no idea what conversation they were even having or what it was about. How did the girl having green eyes mean Five was the best?
Handler made the child step up and move towards Five. She turned back and looked at the woman with confusion, but Handler just kept ushering her forward, “Don’t be scared darling. This man will never hurt you.” Diego raised his eyebrows, clearly, she didn’t know Five as well as she thought she did because Diego knew that if this child was a danger to any of them Five would have no problems hurting her, child or not. “Lila,” Handler introduced, “meet your father, Number Five.”
There was a clatter and Diego realized he had dropped the knife that he had been playing with. Everyone else was frozen and staring too. He looked to Five, waiting for him to deny it. Five leaned forward in the chair and looked at the child with the softest expression Diego had ever seen on his face, “She’s right Lila. I will never hurt you. Everything I do is for my family.” Diego blinked at the admission from Five. The girl—Lila really was his daughter. There wasn’t even a single hint of doubt in Five’s voice as he confirmed that she was his family. Diego opened his mouth to—he didn’t know, but he had to say something, but Five was talking again. “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t just kill you and keep her here.” Five’s eyes were hard as he glared at Handler.
The woman just smiled back at him, “Mum?” the girl spoke for the first time. Fear in her voice as she looked at Handler, at her mother who Five, her father, just threatened to kill. Gods, could anything in this family be normal? Diego was not equipped to deal with a child crying because their mom was about to be murdered in front of them.
Five looked at Lila again, his face softening, “This is your Uncle Klaus,” Five said pointing at the man sitting completely still on the floor with his jaw still hanging open, “He loves to play tag. You should play with him.” Lila looked uncertainly at Klaus and then back at Five concerned. Five nodded encouragingly at her, and who knew Five could be encouraging, and she stepped closer to Klaus. He had managed to close his mouth finally, but really who could blame him for being in shock. Lila raised her hand and tapped Klaus on the shoulder.
“Tag,” the childish voice rang out in the otherwise silent house. It seemed out of place. How many years had it been since there was a child in this building? Five’s weird body age didn’t count, not a single person who met him confused him for a child, not even an actual child who apparently had no problems with having a 13 year old parent. But it seemed that Lila had managed to wake Klaus up again because he scrambled to his feet while she quickly ran away from him.
“So,” Five continued looking back at Handler, “I’m still waiting for a reason.”
Handler raised an eyebrow at him, “Come on, Five. You used to like me.”
“And now I don’t and will gladly kill you,” He leaned forward doing the smile that scared off hardened killers. “I’ll let you pick this time. Do you want another grenade or another bullet to your head?” What?
“Oh, neither I think,” Handler said smiling, “they were such a hassle to deal with.” She pulled off the hat and revealed a corner of her forehead showing a circular scar the size of a dime above her right eyebrow.
“Pity, I was hoping for worse than that.” Five had actually shot this woman in the head before. And she had lived. And they had a child together. Diego was officially wrong that the mannequin wife was the weirdest relationship in Five’s life.
From the other side of the room, Klaus and Lila could be heard giggling as they chased each other around the room. At least someone was enjoying this situation. Handler sighed and rolled her eyes, “Look, she needs protection,” Five raised his eyebrows and Handler huffed. “They are not happy with the continued existence of the world, and I no longer have the capacity to support another life,” Handler pursed her lips, “especially not one so monetarily demanding and time consuming.”
Diego pulled another knife out of a sheath. What kind of mother talked about their child like that? The way she talked about Lila was so cold. As if she had weighed the pros and cons and decided there weren’t enough pros. “If I keep her, you don’t get to see her. I never want to see you again.” Five said quickly.
Handler leaned forward to give her own offer. Of course, Five was going to handle this like a negotiation and obviously any woman Five would have ever considered being with would think the same way. Diego shouldn’t have ever expected anything different.
“NO,” Diego blinked because he hadn’t seen Handler open her mouth. Both Five and her turned to look at the couch and Diego realized it had been his sister. “You can’t keep a child away from her mother Five. That’s wrong.” Right, Allison had some personal experience with that, but couldn’t she see that the Handler was crazy? This whole situation was crazy and the talking should just be left to Five and his… whatever Handler was to him.
“Allison,” Viktor chided. Allison turned to Viktor in shock which quickly morphed into fury, but before Allison could say anything, Viktor was speaking again, “Handler isn’t the same as you. She talks about Lila the way Dad spoke about us.”
Again, Allison opened her mouth to speak, maybe to defend the experience that was motherhood, but this time she was cut off by Handler. “You say that as if it is a bad thing, your father raised the seven most important people in the world. We could all learn from his efforts. Also, you will call me The Handler.” Diego’s eyes widened at her statement. How could anyone possibly think that Reginald Hargreeves was a good example of anything? The only reason they ended up as somewhat decent human beings was because of Mom.
Allison slumped back on the couch, “Yeah, you should just take Lila away from her,” She muttered disgust written across her face.
“But Five called you Handler?” Luther asked once again focusing on the most pointless part of the conversation.
“A privilege extended only to the father of my child,” the Handler said sunnily before locking eyes with Luther, “Would you like to have the same privilege?” She asked in a voice she probably thought was coy, but was just disturbing. Luther shuddered and leaned away from her, vigorously shaking his head. The Handler simply shrugged and settled comfortably into the chair again. Klaus ran behind the couch chasing the child. Diego had to commend Five for distracting him with tag because there was no way Klaus would have stayed quiet after that comment.
“Enough time waste,” all eyes turned to Five again. “I will raise her under the condition that you have no contact with me or my family again. I think that’s fair after everything.”
The Handler had a calculating look in her eyes and they were a little too close to adopting a child for Diego to let this go on much longer. Just because Five was confident didn’t mean Diego was. “I think we are overlooking something,” He waited until everyone’s eyes were on him before he continued, “are we even sure this is Five’s child?”
“Yes” Five and the Handler said in unison, but everyone else looked skeptical.
“And we are just supposed to take her word for it, do you really trust her?” He waved his knife at the Handler.
Five scoffed, “Of course I don’t trust her.”
“Then why would you just accept that Lila is your child,” Five looked at him with exasperation, but Diego continued, “And I saw your face so don’t even try to tell me that you knew she existed before just now,” He jabbed his finger in the direction of the child whose skin tone matched Diego’s more closely than Five’s or the Handler’s. “She has nothing in common with you. There’s no proof that she’s your child.”
He could tell that even if Five and the Handler were unmoved by his speech his other three siblings were contemplating it. Again, Diego silently thanked Five for distracting Klaus because there was no doubt that Klaus would be all for adopting a strange child from someone that Five had repeatedly tried to kill. Lila ran by him with Klaus a half step behind, both of them smiling. Another step and Klaus got his arms around the small child’s waist and lifted her up. She was so small. What was Five thinking trying to keep the child? None of them were capable of raising her. Even if her mother was horrible, at least she would be better with her actual family right? “Got you!” Klaus yelled as he brought her up to eye level.
“No, you didn’t!” Lila responded. She scrunched up her little nose and balled up her fists. Diego thought she was going to start crying because she lost, but then her fists started glowing. There was the familiar sound of space folding in on itself and Lila appeared in a flash of blue on the other side of the room. “You’re still It because you didn’t say tag,” she yelled before running towards to kitchen. Klaus, to his credit, didn’t pause and simply ran across the room to try and catch her again.
There was silence for a few seconds before Viktor spoke, “I think Lila is Five’s child.”
“Yeah, no shit. Obviously, Five is her dad.” Viktor put his hands up in surrender. Diego took another deep breath. It wasn’t even lunch yet and already there was too much going on. Lila could teleport just like Five. Was that how Five knew she was his child? Could he feel the teleportation magic around her? Would all their children have powers too? Can Claire rumor people too? Surely Allison would’ve told them if she could, but maybe Allison didn’t know either. He looked over at Allison to ask but saw her frowning at Five.
Oh, the child negotiation was continuing. “Don’t even try it,” Five was saying, “You have no standing and you’ve finally pissed off the little fish.” What? Never mind, Diego didn’t need to know what that meant.
“Surely, you understand. I just need some insurance before I go through with this. After all, what’s the point of going through all of this if I die anyway?” the Handler asked still smiling.
“So your daughter isn’t alone,” Allison muttered under her breath, but neither Five nor the Handler paid her any attention.
“All I’m hearing are good reasons to kill you right now.”
“Please if you wanted to kill me you would have done it as soon as Lila was distracted.” They were both doing the creepy smile thing at each other now. Maybe Five learned it from her. Or she learned it from Five. Maybe that was just how they smiled at each other. Oh, Gods maybe that was how they flirted.
Across the room, he heard Klaus and Lila giggling again. Diego didn’t remember tag having so much giggling in it, but he guessed it was a good thing they were getting along considering she was going to be living with them for the foreseeable future. Suddenly Lila was standing next to him and only through years of practice being Five’s brother was Diego able to act completely unaffected instead of startling and falling to the ground. “You’re really bad a tag Uncle Klaus,” Lila said running away again while Klaus followed, much more winded than before. Uncle Klaus. That would mean he was Uncle Diego. He already was an Uncle, what with Claire existing and all, but he had never met her and it didn’t seem like he would be able to any time soon. But now he would be called that. Probably as soon as Five gets the Handler out the door.
Speaking of, he should probably listen to the conversation he should help. All the rest of his siblings were only making it worse. “Fine, give me all the pertinent information about Lila now and we can finish this,” Five was saying. The Handler stuck her hand out and Five shook it before turning to yell into the hall, “Mom can you get the briefcase from my room?” What did a briefcase have to do with his child? Was this related to the fish that was mad at the Handler? He looked at his siblings to ask, but they didn’t seem lost so Diego didn’t want to ask and seem like he wasn’t paying attention when he clearly was. Diego was the best at following along with conversation, he had even listened to that story about Ben fighting zombies in the library.
Mom came back with a large black briefcase which she placed on the table between them. “I’m glad we could work this out,” the Handler said pulling a folder out of her dress. How did she fit a folder in there? It wasn’t even creased. Five flipped it open and glanced at it briefly before closing it again. There were photos of Lila from when she was younger and a bunch of papers all stapled together in uneven stacks but Five seemed satisfied because he stood and gestured to the door. The Handler stood and nodded but instead of moving, she looked around the room for Lila. Oh. Even if she was as bad of a parent as Dad, she was still a parent, she must be sad to leave her daughter. “Lila,” she called and the little girl ran over to her. “I’m leaving now.”
“Oh,” Lila turned to look at Klaus, “Bye Uncle Klaus,” she said waving.
“No,” the Handler corrected, softer than he thought she would be but also harsher than she should have been. “Just me. You are staying here with your father.”
Lila blinked as her face shifted in fear. “No! I want to come home with you Mum. I’ll be good. I promise!” There were tears forming in her eyes as she looked up at her heartless mother.
“I know you will, darling. You have to be good for your new family now. Really this is for the best.” The Handler picked up the briefcase and walked briskly towards the door.
Lila started crying in earnest and tried to follow the Handler, but Diego put his hand on her shoulder before she could get far, “It’s okay,” he said moving in front of her, “We’ll make sure you have lots of fun here with us.” Diego smiled charmingly at her but Lila just shook her head as the tears started rolling faster down her face. Then there was nothing in his hand and there was the tell-tale sound of teleportation from behind him.
He spun around to try and catch her before she could follow the horrible woman that sold her child for a briefcase, even if it was to the child’s dad. Allison was already standing in front of Lila blocking her path to the door, but that wouldn’t stop the child so easily. Her fists glowed blue as her power activated, and she disappeared but, instead of landing on the other side of Allison she ended up on the far side of the foyer with Five’s hand on her shoulder. Everyone turned to get to Lila, but he knew that she would jump before any of them got close enough.
Her hands glowed again but after a second, they returned to normal. Lila looked at her hands in understandable confusion. Diego wasn’t sure how he would react if his own powers suddenly failed him, especially in a situation where he was about to be stranded in a house of strangers. She scrunched her nose in adorable concentration and her hands glowed blue again, but once again they faded out without her blinking anywhere new. “If you think I am going to let you use my power to cause me problems you have a lot to learn about me,” Five said looking down at Lila. Why did Five have to say it like that? He sounded like a mafia leader or, more accurately, a cold-blooded killer.
Lila tried to blink one more time and this time Diego noticed that Five’s hands were glowing too. Since when could Five counteract other people’s teleportation? How would he even know he could do that? Where would he have even been able to practice something like that? It’s not like there were other people running around teleporting all over the place. Right? Lila whimpered and stared at her mom across the room as she walked out of her life forever. Just before she left, the Handler turned back and looked at Lila. “Consider this a gift,” Oh, she was looking at Five, not her daughter, “I know Delores always wanted children.”
“Oh I do,” Five smiled except this time it was the sappy one he got whenever he talked about Delores, “Delores will be an excellent mother.”
The Handler sniffed and turned sharply. What? Was she jealous of Five’s mannequin wife? Well if Five chose to marry a mannequin over a real human woman and treated the mannequin with kindness while he threw grenades at the woman, Diego supposed she had a reason to be angry. With that, the Handler stepped out the door and hopefully out of their lives forever.
Lila’s cries turned into wails and Diego stepped forward to help, but Five picked her up with efficiency and went back to the living room. He was stroking her back and murmuring in her ear and surprisingly Lila started to calm down. Five sat down and kept whispering to her until finally she pulled back and looked up at Five. “There we go,” he said softly, “That’s a brave girl.” She gave Five a watery smile, but it was better than how she was 15 minutes ago so Diego would take it.
“What happens now, Father?” Five sucked in a breath as he looked into Lila’s innocent eyes. Even the great Five was not immune to emotions, who would have thought?
“Anything you want. Here come meet your family,” Five turned her where she was sitting on his lap so she could see all of them, “This one is your Uncle Diego. He’s the one that tries to catch Uncle Klaus when they play tag,” Five introduced.
Diego chuckled at the description, “Yeah except we call it cops and robbers when we play,” he said squatting down so he was at eye level with his new niece.
She looked at him for a minute, tilting her head as she studied him. “You have a lot of knives.”
He chuckled uncomfortably, “Yeah I do,” she started to reach out to grab at a hilt and he jumped backward, “NO!”
She blinked at him in surprise and he could see tears starting to form in her eyes again. Diego wasn’t sure what to do. She would start crying unless he gave her one of the knives, but he was pretty sure that you shouldn’t give small children knives. But he was also sure that he already had his knives by the time he was her age so it couldn’t be that bad to let her play with them right?
Before he could make a decision, Allison was pushing him out of the way and Five was introducing her to Lila. He wasn’t sure what Allison said but Lila was laughing, and Diego knew that it would be okay because all of them would do this together.
…
They had spent the next few hours playing with Lila in an effort to both get her to forget the Handler and get to know the newest member of their family. Mom had made lunch and Viktor had tried to feed it to Lila until she declared in a very self-important voice that she knew how to eat by herself. It was fun. Five had never thought he would be a father, but he can’t say he was angry at the Handler’s actions, at least not anymore. Right now, Allison and Luther were putting Lila down for a nap in the room that she had chosen for herself a few hours ago because according to Allison, children needed to have naps.
Five picked in the folder the Handler had given him and looked through it much more leisurely. There were photos of her throughout the few short years of her life. There was a list of different skills that the Handler had started teaching her and at the top of the page there was a half sheet of paper stapled to it. The half sheet said that Lila had been in the Handler’s possession for little more than six years, marked with the Commission’s personalized way of measuring time in a timeless place and that she had started caring for her when she was 6 months old. Curious, Five lifted the page up to see what was written underneath and froze. Suddenly he was back to being angry at the Handler again. This was why Delores told him to be careful and take his time. Exactly reasons like this. Now to tell his siblings while also seeming like he knew exactly what he was doing the entire time because he was not going to let Luther make fun of him for not reading the fine print.
…
The six of them were gathered in the living room again and the atmosphere was cheerful but quiet because Lila was sleeping just a few rooms away. Ben looked at his family from his position on the floor next to Klaus, happy that they were all here together like this. He had even gotten to meet his new niece when Klaus conjured him. It was only peaceful for a few moments though until she had realized he was a ghost and started screaming in fear looking around like more ghosts were going to pop out and attack her. She didn’t calm down even after Klaus made him invisible again and told her that he would never summon any scary ghosts again. Ben hoped she would get over that fear so he could talk to her again and Klaus didn’t have to keep that promise. She only stopped crying when Diego threw a knife that curved around the room before hitting the wall in front of her. Then they had the new problem where Lila was trying to take Diego’s knives which was probably worse because she could hurt herself but also better because for some reason there was nothing scary about knives.
Five walked into the room looking a little frazzled, but Ben supposed sudden fatherhood would do that to someone. “Okay, I have something important to tell you.” Ben turned to look at Five even if Five wouldn’t know he was. Besides him, the only other person who looked at Five was Viktor. Five sighed, “It’s about Lila,” all the conversation stopped and he had the room’s undivided attention. Ben couldn’t help but chuckle. Already Lila was the most important person in the family. “First, she’s not actually my daughter.”
“What,” Ben said but it was lost in the cacophony of his siblings’ incoherent screaming. “We saw her blink, there is no other explanation for how she can do that,” Ben raised his voice over the rest of them even though none of them could hear him, but Klaus pointed and nodded at Ben.
“Plus she acts just like a mini Five. Like she’s smarter than all the rest of us,” Klaus added.
“Exactly,” Ben made sure to support his brother. They kept yelling for another minute until Five snapped.
“Quiet she’s going to wake up.” Everyone settled down quickly. Again Ben was impressed by the control Lila had over the family after just a handful of hours. “I’ll explain it, just keep it civil.”
“Sure,” Diego grumbled, “My niece isn’t my niece, but we have to be civil.” It really was cute how quickly they had all been enamored by such a tiny girl. Maybe it was because she was so tiny.
“So from the top,” Five started, “Lila was born on October 1, 1989, same as us, that’s why she has powers.” Again everyone burst out talking but Five just raised an eyebrow and everyone quieted themselves quickly.
“But,” Luther hesitated, “she’s only six years old?”
Five rolled his eyes, “what part of time travel do you not understand?” Luther looked down sheepishly as Five sighed, “Also, her power isn’t the same as mine, her power is to copy powers. If she sees us using our power then she can use it too”
This time after the bombshell everyone was silent in shock as they absorbed what that meant. “Oh gods,” Klaus covered his face, “No wonder she was terrified after I summoned Ben. She could see all the ghosts.” Klaus looked horrified that he had subjected her to the ghosts and Ben didn’t blame him. These days Klaus didn’t get high so that he could summon Ben but that also meant that the ghosts of everyone they had ever killed were always present even if they looked a little fuzzy to Ben. He looked at the ghosts with crushed ribs and skulls behind Luther, the ghosts covered in slashes surrounding Diego. There were those nannies with necks bent at strange angles glaring at Viktor. The ghosts near Allison had the most variety. Some of them standing there with organs exploded while others looking like they were still perfectly normal and alive. Ben still remembers how Allison rumored them to stop breathing, for their heart to stop beating, or simply drop dead. Ben didn’t want to see his own entourage which was mostly miscellaneous limbs and organs sometimes shredded beyond recognition. So instead Ben looked at Five’s ghosts. He had more than all the rest of them combined, but that's what the life of an assassin was Ben guessed. There were some with limbs chopped off, some with guts spilling onto the floor, and so so many with bullet holes and stab wounds. There were so many Ben didn’t even know how to describe because he didn’t know what could cause wounds that looked like. All Ben knew was that they were gruesome. What did Five do, hack at them with a hatchet?
“That’s why she stopped crying when I threw the knife,” Diego said pulling Ben’s attention away from the outlines of ghosts that took up most of the room.
“What?” Five looked around incredulously, “You already used your power around her?”
“Hey you did too,” Klaus argued.
“Yes, but my power is not dangerous or harmful. She’ll use them instinctively the way we did when we were her age, she won’t have proper control over them. So try not to use your powers around her too much. Obviously, Luther and Klaus can’t do anything about that, but I doubt she’ll get up to much trouble with a little extra strength. If she does copy your power Klaus, just have Ben unleash the Horror so she can copy that instead. Actually, that’s an interesting experiment,” Five mused glancing away from them, “I wonder if she can sense Ben’s powers being activated even if he’s not materialized, after all, she’ll be able to see him with your powers. We’ll have to test that.”
“Absolutely not,” Ben felt his anger bubbling to the surface as he stood up, making him feel stronger. It made him feel more alive. “The Horror is dangerous and I will not allow Lila to use it. And I will certainly not be a part of any experiments you want to perform,” Ben spat at Five even if he couldn’t hear it. Then he noticed that the entire family was staring at him and glanced at Klaus whose hands were glowing. “Oh,” that’s why Ben felt more alive.
“Ben,” Five said gently the way he did every time he said Ben’s name. “I’m not going to experiment on her that was a poor choice of words. I just meant it would be nice to know the extent of her powers I’m not going to force her, or you, do to anything you don’t want to. Also, she’s so small. Do you remember the things that you summoned when you were small? They couldn’t hurt anyone, and they wouldn’t have until Dad trained them too. And on the off chance that Lila summons something violent, we have you to help her get it under control. There’s no reason to be so worried,” Five placated.
“Right,” Ben said blushing and looking down. “It is important to know I guess and I know you wouldn’t force us into it. I just,” Ben looked back up at Five, “I got scared.”
“Ben,” Five said in that annoyingly soft voice, “It’s okay, but really there’s no reason to be,” Five said taking a few steps closer, “We are all right here. Lila won’t get hurt,” Five smiled up at him. Ben still wasn’t used to how much taller than Five he was now.
Ben wrapped his arms around Five, “Thanks,” he held Five until he slipped through Ben’s arms.
“Sorry,” Klaus said, “couldn’t hold it any longer.”
Five waved him off, “It’s longer than before. You’re getting stronger every day.” Ben could see how Klaus glowed under the praise. After all, everyone knew that Five didn’t sugarcoat things. He only said what he believed. “As I was saying before, be a little more cautious about who you use your powers around. And Viktor, I don’t even want Lila to find out what your powers are.”
Ben snorted at Viktor’s offended face, “How is that fair? Diego can throw knives in her face and that’s okay? You’re going to allow Allison to rumor your child, or teach your child how to rumor other people and you’re fine with that? But a couple of sound waves are off limits?” Viktor asked yelling in Five’s face. The cups on the table started rattling as Viktor’s voice picked up. Ben also saw the glass display case shaking and subtly tried to push Klaus away from it.
Maybe today was Yell-At-Five day because both of the quietest numbers had a lot to say to him. Five narrowed his eyes, “There’s nothing wrong with a few rumors if we all know what was said. And if she can control the knife it’s only going to hit what she wants it to hit. But your little sound waves can destroy the whole world, Viktor, if she decides that it’s not nap time and you’re being mean for making her go to sleep,” Viktor paled as he realized what Five said was true, “But I’ll be fair. If you can get your control down, then there shouldn’t be too much of a problem around Lila. You can just take control from her then.” Five looked at Viktor’s dejected expression, “I’m not trying to exclude you, I just want us to be safe.”
“I know,” Viktor gave Five a weak smile, “I guess I’m just used to assuming the worst.” Ben was impressed by how quickly Five had helped Viktor get control again. And how Five had given their brother more incentive to work on his powers.
Five knocked his shoulder against Viktor’s, “Okay I just wanted to get everyone on the same page about Lila. Now that that’s taken care of—“
“No wait,” Diego interrupted, “If she’s not actually your child what the heck was that whole thing with the Handler earlier, and why would you tell Lila that you’re her dad when you’re not?” That was actually a good point. Why tell all the lies in the first place?
“Look, it’s complicated,” Five pinched the bridge of his nose, “The short version is I know what kind of person the Handler is. I can’t in good conscience leave a child in her care, especially not one with powers. I know you think I don’t care about other people, but no one should have to grow up with a father like ours and the Handler is just like him,” Five looked at him, daring Diego to challenge him.
“You’re right,” Allison cut in, “She’s a horrible woman and doesn’t deserve to have a child,” Five nodded at her and Diego muttered his agreement under his breath, but they all heard it.
“Sooooo,” Klaus drug the word out, “You didn’t have sex with the Handler then?”
Five looked at Klaus like he had told Five the apocalypse was the best place to live, “I had been married to Delores for twenty years when I met the Handler,” Five said scandalized, “How can you even suggest that I would ever even think of—“
“Okay okay, calm down. I didn’t mean anything by it,” Klaus tapped on Five’s shoe as he edged closer. Ben thought it was more to stop Five from walking any closer than in an actual attempt to reassure him, but knowing Klaus it could just be either. Maybe today was just a yelling day in general, not specifically at Five. Diego would probably be the next one to snap, Ben had seen him taking a lot of deep breaths to calm himself down today. “I was just wondering where little Lila came from.” Klaus looked at Five with large eyes.
That’s actually a good point. Ben looked at Five too, awaiting an explanation. Five gritted his teeth, but finally began speaking, “We are the reason Lila doesn’t have parents, so we thought we’d… pick up the slack.” What did that even mean?
“You,” Luther stared at Five with wide eyes, “you killed her parents?” he finished in a whisper.
Five shrugged, “You know how it is. Just another job. I’ll tell her the truth when she’s older, but right now I want to do the best I can for the girl I adopted.” What? Five had murdered her parents and then the Handler had taken Lila and raised her. Based on the short interaction Ben had with the Handler that seemed exactly like something she would’ve done. Especially if she was as similar to Father as Five claimed. Ben guessed it was a good thing then that Five was there to make sure Lila wouldn’t stay with her.
Five met all of their eyes, except for Ben, in turn, “Will you help me raise her?”
Ben blinked at the intensity in Five’s eyes. Diego huffed, “’ course we will man,” and was quickly followed with reassurances from the rest of his family. “But, why did you ask about her eyes?” Diego asked.
“Because I recognized them,” Five answered simply, not a single hint of deception found anywhere in his tone. Then he clapped his hands, “If we are done here, I think I’m going to go relax too. While I have the time,” Five smiled and blinked out of the room. Well, even if Lila wasn’t exactly who they thought she was she was still their niece and that was good enough for Ben.
…
Five landed on his bed in his room disturbing the sheets. “Sorry Delores,” He mumbled turning to look at where she had been sitting since this morning, “It’s just, you will not believe the day I’ve had.” She looked at him inquisitively, waiting for Five to tell her, “The Handler tricked me into taking her child, and it was definitely a child she raised that’s the only of why I believed any of it,” Five broke off to rant, “it had become riskier to raise Lila with her position in the Commission, but she also didn’t want to dispose of the child incase she became useful,” Five shifted on the bed so he was facing her entirely, “You know how we always wondered why the Handler came with us to London in 1990?”
Five could see the understanding dawn on her face as she put the pieces together. She was always so much smarter than him. “Yeah, a happy coincidence that Lila’s eyes are the same color as mine. Or the Handler had them changed to match mine, actually, that makes more sense considering she would’ve had my employee records to make it match perfectly. She even managed to haggle that briefcase Klaus stole. Do you remember how much time I spent fixing that? Gone just like that,” Five turned to Delores who was waiting patiently for him to run out of steam.
“However you want to tell it, my arrogance landed us a child with powers. Surprise,” Five said weakly. He waited until Delores had time to process and saw the smile stretch across her face. Five couldn’t help but smile back, “The Handler even said Lila was a gift for you,” Delores raised an eyebrow, “But really she is great, you can meet her when she wakes up again. And you know what the best part about this is? My family thinks I knew what I was doing the whole time.” Delores let out an actual laugh at that, “Yeah I don’t know why they think I know what I’m doing either.”