Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I
"Four lead riders melt the vast gardens
Four lead ghosts dig the grave of love
One, two, three innumerable murders
Behead the angel of the joy.
A rider with red eyes bestride the
Fires
Something like a distant sadness happens there
In the country of the grassland."
―Efraín Huerta, this is called the burning flames.

Violet knew all the possible endings.

She had read a lot of stories like hers, and somehow it seemed that this was written before, long before all those unfortunate events will begin, and in the years coming she noticed that, even if she wanted, she couldn´t been pulled apart from the fate that had been imposed to them.

It was logic, she told herself, what other ending could we have had but this?

She removed disturbed in the bed, she had lost her sleep. Her eyes wandered for contemplate the ghostly, white curtains in the room, flying with the autumn breeze. This was the season when the memories seemed to rebuke her more.

She felt Klaus´s arm slide around her, his warm hand against her belly, and then he kissed her neck until the memories seemed to appease and the feeling of anguish had left.
Pain and lost had put their terrible claws against them since they were so young… and Violet found herself crying, as other nights, and she cried for Sunny, for Klaus and for herself, for their innocence lost.

While the early morning hanged though the window, she turned to Klaus, caressing with soft fingers his sleepy eyes, looking for his lips urgently.

What other ending could we have had, but this?

What else had they left, but the other, and their little Sunny?

They had wandered in the world, so afraid; so alone, alone, alone, walking, crying until the early morning. And she always felt that they were the only real thing in the world. She wasn´t surprised when she found herself in love with him. Him, with his calm force and his love so painful. He understand her, and she found a wonderful peace in his arms.

Her brother.

She allowed herself to lower the guard, only for him, only that moment.

Everything began, she remembered, approximately a year after they arrival to the city. Klaus and she had been forced to find jobs for survive, had rented a little apartment in the city center where there was a nursery school four blocks away, and they took Sunny and Beatrice there.

Everyday Klaus and Violet woke up at six o´clock, as if there was any alarm to remember them to run away. Later they would wake Sunny and she made the breakfast while one or another rocked Beatrice softly.

Then Klaus would left to the library and Violet took the girls to the nursery school, and then go on to the watchmaking where she worked.

The watchmaking was a local sited in one of the principal streets, with showcases and a little room behind the bar where Violet spent most of the day. She hadn´t had to attend the customers, which was a relief. Angelina, the young employed of the bar, took care of that, and also showed the merchandise.

There Violet had installed a system that helped her to polish, disarm and renew the broken watches quickly.

Even when she had talked many times with Klaus about their respective dreams of going to the university, Violet felt happy inside that room. She liked the small space, the old table with cuts everywhere and the smell of the oil she used to grease the gears.

A particularly cold morning Violet was late. She had to get back to the apartment because Sunny had forgotten her lunch. She opened the door of the watchmaking, took off her coat because the place was warm, and said hello to Angelina.

"I´m sorry I´m late" said, looking for the key of the room of repairs; "Sunny forgot her lunch".

Angelina, who were sit reading an old magazine, put on the bar the box of the broken watches.

"It doesn´t matter, you have a lot of job today, you know? It seems like there is having a very serious case of broken watches".

Violet frowned. She took the box, and there was at least fifteen watches, everyone with name, and she thought it was unusual.

"All of these had been bring today?" she asked, putting the lights on. She left the box in the table and began preparing her tools. She pulled out a very old ribbon from her pocket, and tied up her hair.

If you knew Violet you would know that every time she tied up her hair that way it meant that she was thinking and concentrating. Angelina had saw her do that since the first day she worked there, and she thought that it was something strange, but never said anything.

"Between yesterday and today" she answered, "better you work fast, if you don´t want Mr. Fouad putting a sanction to you again".

Mr. Fouad was the owner of the store, and he was very rich. He used to appear in the store at eleven o´clock, bad humoring. Once he discovered Violet sleeping at the table and as sanction he had discounted all the day from her salary.

That had happened in the last months when Beatrice used to cry at night, afraid of her new home. Violet remembered took her from her cradle and tried to sleep in the sofa, with her against her chest.

During all morning, Violet was absorbed in the small machines, disarming, tightening screws, finding failures and fixing them. The safest of finding solutions always made her feel fine. While she looked one of the watches a sudden thought came to her mind. She thought that the watch she was holding was known, but she couldn´t remember from where. It had a strange relieve on a side next to the bottom. A shiver run through her spine and her heart skipped a beat for an instant when she read it.

"Violet?" Angelina´s voice scared her.

"What´s happening?" she smiled at her forcibly.

She gave her two more packets.

"Thank you" said Violet.

When the door of the rom closed, the eldest of the Baudelaire allowed herself to lose the composure for a second.

She put her fingers inside the inscription of the watch, afraid, and looked at it once more time. It was so small… while she hold it she was sure that they´ll never forgot. She was sure that all that series of unfortunate events haven´t finished. Because even when she wanted deny it more than anything in the world, hey eyes were not fooling her.

She read again:

The world is quiet here.

Violet felt anxious all day. All she wanted was to get out of the watchmaking and run to the library to show that to her brother. For the first time in all the months she had been working in that place she felt that the repair room was too small, suffocating. It reminded her more of the old room which Count Olaf had assigned to them to live than something else. She could barely concentrate after that. It was so much her distraction that she forgot to buy bread on her way to home and when Klaus had returned with the girls, her restlessness was only accentuated.

To see that inscription was to return to dark days, even though the nightmares never went away, nor the marks, even though every day there were incessant reminders. Only a volunteer (or someone who once was) could have taken that watch.

Violet wondered who it would have been, if they had done it on purpose, knowing that she would see it. She wondered which side of the schism they belonged to and what they wanted from her. She was unusually quiet during dinner and Klaus noticed. In fact, he had realized from the moment he had come home, because generally Violet would receive Sunny with a long hug and a kiss on the forehead (as if somehow she had feared not to see her again) and charged Beatrice in her arms to sing to her.

Beatrice loved the sounds. She had become accustomed to the lullaby of the water on the island, and to the soothing sound of Sunny cooking or Klaus's voice reading something aloud. But mostly she liked the voice of Violet when she hummed ditties, something her mother used to do with them.

When Violet gave a quick hug to Sunny and a kiss on Beatrice's forehead, Klaus knew something was going on. He watched her walk back and forth from the apartment without an apparent purpose and then decided that he would ask her after dinner.

As they picked up the dishes from the table, once Sunny and Beatrice had gone to play, Klaus saw the timing.

"Violet, what's going on?" he enquired.

His sister gave him a long look and finally made a sign to follow her to the kitchen.

"Today I fixed a watch belonging to someone from V.F.D. It had an inscription, it said: the world is quiet here".

Klaus shook his head.

"It can be a coincidence, Violet. They can't have found us yet, we've gone unnoticed".

But they both knew that that was such a loose guess as to assume that all people are honest or that all vaccines are good.

Violet felt tired, and it was not for having been opening and repairing watches all morning. She looked into the room, worried, and the vision of Sunny accommodating blankets so that Beatrice could sit down without feeling the cold of the floor reassured her.

"I don't think it's a coincidence, Klaus, and you know it as well as I do. Maybe it's time for us to start cleaning up our names, maybe it's time to go to court. We can't keep hiding, we can't keep letting them think we're criminals or we´ll never run away from V.F.D."

He had come to her side. He pulled her in a hug and she buried her face in her brother's chest. During their life they had shared many hugs. They had always felt safe, loved and happy as long as they had each other, and Sunny; but a sudden spark of electricity hit them and for a second an unknown emotion ran them from head to toe. Violet felt warm fill her, installing on her cheeks and in her belly and Klaus believed that his heart would come out of her throat.

She walked away from him, muttering something about dirty dishes, while Klaus announced that it was time for Sunny to do his homework.

It wasn't the first time that happened. It had happened other times on the island, while Sun was setting and they watched Sunny splash in the water, or when the night fell on them and the dim lights were lit, and the soft music to lull Beatrice was sounding.

A spark that had never been there before flooded their skin and they were very aware of the closeness of the other. However, it never seemed close enough...

Violet tried to push those ideas out of her mind, frightened.

Klaus, however, let them flood his thoughts.

Chapter Text

Fate is like an immense sea of great waves, which can take castaways wherever it want".

Klaus felt his heart swell with pride when Sunny showed him the little poem she had written in the nursery. He accommodated Beatrice, wrapped in blankets, on his right arm, so that Sunny would cling to his left hand, even though he held his briefcase with that hand.

Whoever looked at Klaus from outside would have a slightly strange vision. He appeared to be a little over seventeen, even though he was sixteen; and the portfolio clashed a little with a young man who was, sure, about to enter college, but what made him a truly unusual vision were the two little girls he carried with him.

He opened the door and they were immediately greeted by Violet, who placed a kiss on Sunny's forehead after hugging her and snuggled up to Beatrice to sing to her.

Apparently the fear she had felt a few days ago had abated, but she looked away when her eyes met his. Klaus felt his emotion fading.

"How was the library today?" Violet asked politely.

Klaus adjusted his glasses. Sunny ran straight to the kitchen to prepare dinner and Beatrice raised her hands, wanting to grab Violet's ribbon.

"Very busy," he said, "a donation of encyclopedias arrived..."

The doorbell rang, interrupting him. Brother and sister looked at each other with concern. Nobody ever visited them, not once had they received visitors since they got there.

Klaus hurried to open the door. And Violet gasped hard.

She had recognized the man who watched them from the street, from his shoes to his hat, and instinctively squeezed Beatrice against her chest. In the past, that man had always been present in the numerous episodes of misfortunes that had occurred in the lives of the Baudelaire orphans. He had even been the cause of many of them.

"Mr. Poe?"

Mr. Poe coughed into his white handkerchief in what seemed an interminably long time.

"Good afternoon, Baudelaire children. I was not sure that this was really your address, but there you are... can you let me...?" Mr. Poe had wanted to have a nice conversation, but he gave up when he realized that he was not entirely welcome.

It was not that Mr. Poe did not like to the Baudelaires, but that in some twisted way (and that embarrassed them) they had taken Mr. Poe as the representative figure of the authority that had failed them. They simply could not trust him, no matter how much they wanted, and that made his natural reaction to be get away from him.

"Come in," Violet said finally.

Mr. Poe crossed the threshold and passed through the narrow corridor that led to the room.

"Mr. Poe?" Sunny's voice cut through the air.

"Oh hello. But how big are you!" said the man, smiling at her.

Sunny looked at him fixedly and then gave an inquisitive look at her siblings. Klaus came forward and whispered something that Violet could not hear, but she saw her sister nod and then watched as she walked away to the room she shared with Beatrice.

Beatrice looked at them inquisitively.

"The last time I saw, you were only three children," said Mr. Poe, and he seemed dismayed.

"I´ll be here in one second," Violet said, and stepped forward to leave Beatrice with Sunny. She heard Klaus offer Mr. Poe a tea and then several seconds of coughing. "Easy Bea, nothing will happen, I promise," she whispered. She gave Sunny a squeeze and returned to the living room.

Mr. Poe was sitting, observing with indiscreet curiosity around him. Violet knew that her home was not what could be called conventional. Many things that were too expensive for them had been replaced with some of Violet's inventions, such as the ventilator, or the kitchen's refrigeration system. The sofa was a bit old and the tea table was not bought, but made by Klaus. They were surrounded by several shelves that Klaus used as bookshelves and a wooden horse, owned by Sunny and Beatrice, hindered the way to the window.

"What brings you here, Mr. Poe?" Klaus asked politely.

Mr. Poe sipped his tea and then coughed for several minutes.

"I come for the bank's business, Baudelaire children," he said at last. Despite the fact that Violet was still seventeen, she wondered if it was still correct for Mr. Poe (or anyone else) to call them children. It was appropriate for Sunny and for Beatrice, but Klaus and she had to grow up so fast... "Violet, it seems to me that a few days ago you applied for a permit to hire a lawyer, financed by the Baudelaire fortune."

"We want to start a legal trial to eliminate the charges that, according to our understanding, have been placed in our names; Mr. Poe" Klaus explained, calmly.

Mr. Poe began looking in his portfolio with a distracted expression.

"Well, children. There are several points that we must clarify. It will be very difficult for you to win the case because there is a lot of evidence against you. There are all the copies of The Daily Punctillio where you are accused of multiple crimes such as pyromania and murder, and several hundred witnesses, including myself, who saw you flee from the Denouement hotel along with Count Omar after setting fire to the building." Mr. Poe paused. "Neither is it really helpful the fact that you´ve been missing who knows where who knows how much, or that your return has not been reported to the bank, which brought me serious problems, by the way."

Violet and Klaus looked at each other. The sense of guilt that would have made them feel bad vanished when they noticed that, although they had changed in that couple of years, Mr. Poe was still the same banker as always.

"Our request is still standing," Violet said firmly.

Mr. Poe sighed.

"Well, I guess I can do what I can. However I did not come just to discuss this. The board of directors of the bank asked me to come and inform you that they are doing a thorough review of your case in matter of guardianship. The board of directors believes that it is very unlikely that anyone would want to adopt you because of your age, however they believe that there is a possibility that Sunny will be adopted by a more conventional family. Apparently they have their doubts about whether it is appropriate for two siblings to raise a girl, because due to the difference in their ages the responsibility of caring for a little girl would prevent you from properly developing your own lives. Violet, if I may say so, you are old enough to start looking for a husband. And from what I see, there is no longer only one baby. Who is the other little one?"

"What kind of person calls you a girl and the second after that suggests that you look for a husband?" The eldest of the Baudelaires wanted to say, but she restrained herself. Actually she wanted to say many, many more things. She wanted to say that they wanted Sunny and that they would not let her to be taken away, she wanted to say that they were perfectly capable of taking care of their little sister and that he had no right to say otherwise. However she bit her tongue, figuratively, but found that she was unable to utter a word.

"Her name is Beatrice," Klaus answered. "Kit Snicket left her in our care before she died."

Mr. Poe seemed alarmed.

"I never heard of that Kit Snicket, and I find it extremely inappropriate that she has entrusted you with such an obligation, Baudelaire children, without a will."

Klaus clenched his fists at his sides and Violet could see his body tense in the chair. She saw the fury in his eyes and his agitated breathing, but it seemed that Mr. Poe did not notice.

"Kit did not have time to make a will, she died after giving birth."

Mr. Poe handed them some documents, but Violet did not want to read what they said. While the banker closed his briefcase again and got up to leave, she realized that an uncertain cold had settled in her heart like an anxiety, and she thought with all her strength to invent a time machine that could take her back so she could advice Klaus of never open the door to Mr. Poe.

"Well, while the board of directors gives a verdict on your situation, I advise you to take it easy. I will come next week, on Thursday, to inform you of any changes. Can I take this cookie?

Klaus looked at the small plate where a couple of butter cookies rested and nodded. He accompanied Mr. Poe to the door and when he returned to the room he realized that Violet had not moved an inch.

She got up from the chair as soon as she saw him. She seemed serene but Klaus knew her, he could see beyond her expressions, in the depths of her eyes, and the fear he found there terrified and saddened him in equal measure.

"Let's move on."

"What?"

"Let's go, Klaus. Let's go away from here. I will not let them take our girls! I…"

Her eyes had filled with tears and Klaus felt his heart break. Of course his heart had not literally come undone, but he felt such an intense mixture of sadness, anger and impotence that seeing his sister's intelligent look fill with tears was enough for an unpleasant sense of uneasiness to settle in the mouth of his stomach making him feel very, very bad.

"Violet, we can´t." He handed her the documents Mr. Poe had given them. They stipulated that as long as the board of directors gave a verdict, the Baudelaires could not leave the city or they would be immediately denied the right to a lawyer and the custody of Sunny.

"I will not allow it, Klaus!" She repeated, and then she dropped into his arms, where there was peace. She closed her eyes for a moment, as if by avoiding looking at the world all the evil disappeared.

"Me neither, Violet. We will find a way out of this, you´ll invent something or I´ll remember something that help us. We will be fine." And there was that feeling again.

The sudden heat, like a growing flame. Electricity, an infinite security to be in the right place. And so much love that it was a stab in the chest.

Klaus wanted to tell himself that this was one of the many emotions caused by Mr. Poe when he gave them such bad news. He wanted to convince himself that he just wanted to wipe Violet's tears because he could not stand that his sister felt bad, because he wanted to feel that both had controlled the situation. However there was a phrase that repeated itself in his mind despite his attempts to eliminate it and although he knew what she meant, a dark desire settled between his bones.

Our girls

Klaus knew, had always known that both were raising Sunny and Beatrice, he had known from the moment Kit put in his arms her little daughter, but hear it from the lips of Violet...

Suddenly he felt rarefied. As if a stranger had settled on his skin, usurping him. He released Violet and turned his gaze away from hers.

His sister, his sister.

And she stayed there a long, long time. Even when she tucked in Sunny and cooed Beatrice, she felt another Violet still standing in the living room.

Chapter Text

Only in dreams

Only in the world of the dreams I get you

At certain times, when I close doors

Behind me.

―Only in dreams, Jaime Sabines.

Klaus could not forget that feeling and Violet could not either. They could hardly see each other's eyes that night and a deep sadness had seized their hearts. When Sunny asked what was going on, they felt lonely, alone as never before. Sunny was very intelligent. She had gone through many things just like them and always trusted that her siblings would protect her. Violet was not surprised to see that she did not break when they told her what Mr. Poe had told them. In fact, Sunny had looked into her eyes with the absolute understanding and seriousness that she possessed, and after embracing her she said:

"We'll be fine".

But the next day Violet could not fix a single clock well. She thought about finding a way to avoid all that, but she could not think of anything. They would have to wait for Mr. Poe to return on Thursday with more news.

She sighed and left the watch she checked on the table. She remembered the inscription again. Would it have been a coincidence? A couple of weeks ago Violet was sure that their lives were about to improve. At least the routine and his home assured her a stable peace, but now she did not know what to think. So many things happened ... V.F.D's clock, Mr. Poe with those terrible news and...

She inhaled strongly. No, she had to stop the flow of her mind in that second. She could not think about that because thinking about it made it real, because to think about it would mean accepting that those feelings really existed.

But no matter how hard she tried to stop her mind, she could not. The security she had felt the previous night as she dropped into Klaus's arms, his bright strength around her, so tender and firm.

We've been through a lot together, she told herself, it's normal for me to feel safe there. He has always protected us, he is our brother.

Then why did she feel so confused?

"Violet, can we go to the park?" Sunny asked in the afternoon. It was the hour before sunset and Klaus was finishing washing the dishes.

Beatrice shouted in agreement with her older sister and Violet smiled.

"Of course yes".

Klaus wiped his hands on a towel and reached them, adjusted his glasses and crouched down to Sunny's height.

"Hey Sunny, I have a gift for you," he said. Violet and Sunny looked at him curiously and even little Beatrice stopped playing her toy violin to keep an eye on the conversation. "Today I received an extra payment in the library, so I went to the candy store and brought this to you."

He pulled his briefcase from the table and pulled out a small paper bag. Sunny looked inside it and found solid candies of different colors. She smiled gratefully at her brother and hugged him.

"Thanks Klaus, I can make candy cookies with these," and at that moment Beatrice let out an angry shout.

Violet and Klaus looked at each other, sharing a look of sympathy.

"Of course I have something for you too," Klaus said, "you do not have to look at me like that."

He handed Beatrice a small open box, from which Violet pulled out a small chain of long, crystalline bells. The sound they produced was bewitching and Beatrice seemed very pleased.

At that moment something happened to Violet that had happened to her the previous days. She felt a mixture of emotions that made a lump in her throat choke, her hands tremble and she had to press her lips together. Klaus had always been a loving brother, but Violet could guess that they had not given him any extra pay. He just wanted an excuse to give Sunny and Beatrice something because they did not know, they could not know, if there would be another opportunity to do so.

"Come on, if we want to go to the park it would be better if we hurry or lose all the light" Violet carried Beatrice and went to the coat rack, determined, to take her coats.

Klaus put another package in his pocket. He took Sunny's hand and went through the door. Violet put the key in the bolt and the four walked (in the case of Beatrice walked a section and another was loaded) down the street to the small park they used to go. They watched Sunny and Beatrice play on the grass. Klaus was sitting next to Violet and she could feel his shoulder brushing hers.

"We can not let them take them away," Klaus said.

In the past they had never managed to convince Mr. Poe of anything, Violet did not see why to try again. She knew she had to invent something, and Klaus would have to look for information and she had faith that, like many other times, they would get ahead. They would find a way for Sunny and Beatrice to grow up safe and sound with them. Yet the shadow of a doubt had slipped through her thoughts like an evil worm, and she wondered if Mr. Poe and the bank's board of directors were right.

She could not imagine another life that was not taking care of Sunny and Beatrice, it was part of her, as natural as inventing. But what would happen when Klaus wanted to get married and leave?

The thought made a puncture of pain, fleeting but intense, pierce her chest. She watched her brother reach into his coat pocket. The evening light made shadows on his face, illuminating it and creating a flash through the lenses. Violet remembered that time in V.F.D when she thought Hector showed them the sunset; she had thought she did not understand why everyone went crazy with the sunsets, but at that moment she thought she understood a little of the beauty they produced.

"I also have something for you," Klaus said then. Violet looked at him questioningly and took the paper bag he was holding out to her. She opened it (why did her hands tremble?) And a sudden feeling seized her, and she thought for a second that Klaus was behaving like a loving husband.

Terrified, she dismissed the thought, her heart was pounding.

She pulled the ribbon, a discreet blue, and squeezed it between his fingers.

"Oh Klaus" she sighed, "you did not have to do it, thank you very much".

They looked at the girls playing in front of them. Sunny made Beatrice laugh and together they looked incredibly unstoppable.

It was midnight when Violet woke Klaus. He blinked a couple of times and put on his glasses until he focused on his sister, standing in front of him.

"Klaus, wake up, we have to go to the hospital," her voice was trembling, scared, and that made him take off until the last hint of sleepiness.

"Violet, what's wrong?" He asked.

"It's Sunny, I think she's intoxicated. She must have touched something in the park ... "She could not continue.

Klaus put on his shoes in an instant. In the haze of sleep he could not remember exactly when they called a cab and headed to the Pincus Hospital with Sunny clutching Violet's neck firmly, her small cheeks wet with tears, and Beatrice asleep in Klaus's lap.

At that moment they were waiting for a doctor to finish checking her, and the three of them waited outside the room, sitting on a metal bench. There was a man sitting near them, eyes closed and head bowed; and Klaus whispered so as not to wake him up.

"What name did you say this time?" He asked.

During the time they had been living in the city they had been very careful. It had been a while since they had been falsely blamed for murder, and Violet had given her real name when Mr. Fouad had hired her in watchmaking, just as Klaus was called Klaus in the library, but there were certain times when they could not take the risk.

Violet sighed. He took her hand and pulled her into a hug. It had also been a while since that terrible episode in the hospital, but Violet would never forget. Klaus could feel her tense under his arm, scared.

"Maybe Mr. Poe is right, Klaus," she said. Her brother looked at her surprised, her eyes were full of pain and anguish.

"What if we can not take good care of them?"

And Klaus knew that Violet felt guilty, that a shadow of doubt now slipped into her dreams and hid behind her eyes.

How could he stand to see her like this? How could he sit and listen to the biggest lie ever told?

"Now I am beginning to doubt your sanity" Klaus said, choosing his words carefully. Beatrice shifted in his lap and went back to sleep.

"What do you mean?" Violet's voice sounded sad, but now there was a tinge of indignation that was not there before.

"What did you do when Count Olaf locked Sunny in the cage and hung it on top of the tower?" Klaus asked. Violet parted her lips but the answer stuck in her throat. She did not understand why Klaus brought up that subject at a time like this. "And when Dr. Orwell hypnotized me? When the Count took Sunny to that mountain? You've always put us before you, agreeing to marry Olaf if that meant Sunny's safety, doing the impossible to help me and even climbing in unlikely places to rescue her. I think that if Mom and Dad were here they would be proud of you, and I also believe that if they had to choose, they would choose you one and a thousand times to take care of us. "

Violet sighed. She looked at Beatrice and stroked her hair gently.

"We have always been both, we have taken care of each other; and Sunny has always protected us, in her own special way, " she smiled.

Beatrice opened her eyes and for a moment they could see her consternation. Violet continued stroking her hair to calm her down and Klaus adjusted her to make her more comfortable. She had never been as communicative as Sunny, but at that moment something very strange happened and maybe Klaus and Violet could blame that moment for everything that would happen next in their lives. And even having been able to change things, they never would have done it.

"Dad?" Said Beatrice, looking at Klaus with an inquisitive expression. The two looked at her surprised, breathless. The man sitting on the bench next to them had woken up and now he was looking at them with blatant curiosity, even with a little disapproval, maybe thinking about how young they looked to be parents.

The idea sent an electric shock down Klaus' column. Because if she thought that he was her father, then she thought that Violet ...It was as if a bucket of ice water had been thrown at him and he was too surprised to even move. The word sounded natural coming from her, although Klaus could not imagine where she had heard it because Sunny and Violet always called him Klaus.

But it was not just the realization that Beatrice would see him, of course, as her father. It was the disapproval in the stranger's eyes that kept him sitting there, like a fool, without saying a word. Because, what else could they look like? And what else could they be? And coming that truth came many, many other truths that shook his heart like a stampede.

And now he understood why Mr. Poe and the bank's board of directors doubted whether it was appropriate for them to take care of Sunny and Beatrice. He looked at Violet (and the world had become strange around him), looked at her lips parted in amazement, her hands holding Beatrice's small head, so absolutely natural; and he wanted to kiss her until the end of time.

She reacted first. She smiled and seemed so calm that Klaus could not be aware of the internal battle that was taking place in her heart at that moment.

"Beatrice, of all the words in the world you had to choose "dad" to be the first," she winced, playful. "You could have said "inordinate" or "grammar", I think this shows who your favorite is."

How could she take it so calmly?

Fortunately Klaus did not have to answer, because at that time a doctor brought them news from Sunny. She was stable and Klaus was glad to hear it; she would leave in the morning and would be in complete condition to attend the nursery, because it had only been a mild intoxication caused by the bite of a bug.

During the hours that followed Violet pretended to be asleep when Klaus was awake, and Klaus pretended to sleep when Violet woke up.

An invisible wave retreated offshore to reach with force, an unpredictable and inevitable tsunami. Klaus could say that he knew it from that moment and Violet tried in vain to calm her thoughts.

They were siblings and she remembered having been with him since the day of his birth and could not imagine her life in any other way. But the siblings did not feel that guilt, that inexplicable fear and that something else.

Klaus pretended to be asleep to avoid escape. Because he knew (and actually it would have been foolish to deny it) that his love for her was not normal. He was in love with Violet. And he knew that he was condemned because, how could she want him as something more than a brother? How could he even ask her that?

Chapter Text

This is the story of a love with dark and tenderness origins

It came like a pigeon, and the pigeon had no eyes.

-Efraín Huerta, this is a love.

Even years after Count Olaf was nothing but a memory in their lives, Violet could not fall asleep easily. She often had nightmares about wedding dresses that felt like cages, and an endless trip to the highlands with a terrible monster chasing them, invisible in the shadows. Sometimes she dreamed that she was in the Heimlich Hospital again, unable to escape the fire, and that Klaus and Sunny were leaving and left her there, asleep on the operating table. Other nights she fell from the slippery slope and Sunny died, and some other nights her fatal destiny was to be devoured by the lions of the Caligari Carnival.

Those dreams would never go away. At first it had seemed a good idea to have separate rooms, but after a couple of nights when she woke up terrified, feeling that she would open the door and go out into that voracious maze that had been number 667 on Dark Avenue, just to slip down to the piercing darkness of the elevator shaft, alone, unable to survive, Klaus and she managed to make two single beds fit in the largest room in the apartment. They were separated by a bedside table where Klaus put his glasses on before sleeping, and that night he stirred restlessly among the sheets.

Countless nights Violet had felt calm just by feeling his presence there, but her worries had long been about how they would manage to have money to make ends meet and not how to avoid the bank from taking Sunny and Beatrice.

Again she dreamed. And she could swear this was the worst nightmare she had ever had, because in the dream she was back on the slippery slope. There was no one with her and the cold itching her face numbed her skin. She could hear Count Olaf's laughter and hear Sunny's screams and the cry of a little girl, and she knew that he was doing something terrible to them and that she could not get there in time.

"You could not take care of her," she heard Kit's voice.

And for a second a familiar face saw her from the top, and it was Klaus, encouraging her to go up. She was about to take his hand, the assurance of his presence softening her fear, but he was gone.

"Klaus, where are you? Klaus? Do not go! Klaus!"

Klaus!

She had rised in the night, in the breeze that crept through the crack of a window. Violet was shaking, she could feel her face wet and fear had gotten stuck in her throat, and she could not breathe. Violet could not see anything, and for a second she felt nauseated as she thought of the elevator shaft again.

The Baudelaires had too many ghosts.

Crossing the room, which was not really that big, she saw Klaus's silhouette. His breathing constant and she could not tell if he was actually sleeping or just pretending; he also had night terrors.

She noticed that her nightgown was drenched in sweat and gently got up from the bed, crossed the tiny corridor and silently opened the door to the room shared by Sunny and Beatrice. Watching them always reassured her. Sunny's golden hair spilled over the pillow and Violet remembered with nostalgia the little ponytail she used to make for her.

Before, she always wanted her parents to be there with them. She would have given anything to see them one more time, to spend an afternoon with them hanging around the house: her father helping her try some invention while her mother helped Klaus to define some difficult word. She remembered afternoons like that, when Sunny bites endlessly, as happy as a baby could be. They had had wonderful parents, and now Klaus and she should take their place.

It would have been absurd to deny it. Sometimes she wondered how different it would have been if they were still alive. Even when the Baudelaire parents lived they had always been inseparable: Violet, Klaus and Sunny. She protected them and the three loved each other.

But now she felt that thing, confusing and strange, and could not see her brother in the eyes; holding his gaze would have meant the world falling apart.

What would they have said? she wondered. How would they have looked at me if they had known?

She could never have hidden that she loved him.

She thought about the oath she had taken to her parents, that she would always take care of Klaus and Sunny, and at that moment she felt that she failed them in every way. She was not sure she could protect Sunny, and she was not sure she could take care of Klaus either.

How would she protect him from herself?

It was Saturday morning, and Violet sang softly for Beatrice. Sunlight filtered through the window and she looked at Violet with her inquisitive and curious eyes. It was amazing how she could trust her; Bea raised her hands to touch her hair, her chin, to grab Violet and feel safe.

"You see it? She loves you more." Klaus's voice floated to her in a teasing tone, remembering what Violet had said in the hospital. She looked at him, avoiding his eyes, and realized that he was reading a heavy book about tutelary legislation.

"Have you found something that is helpful?" she asked.

Klaus denied, sighing.

"Klaus, could you help me with the homework?" Sunny's little voice said.

He closed the book and knelt in front of the small table where Sunny had spread out sheets of paper, color pencils, scissors and glue.

Violet felt Beatrice's hand on her collarbone and wondered if even there she could feel the strong beating of her heart. Yes, she would have given anything for her parents were there, and she would never stop missing them, but her family made her happy.

"Let's see, what should you do?" Klaus asked.

Sunny sighed.

"I have to draw a memory about my family, but I can not decide which one."

Klaus caught Violet's gaze and she knew they were thinking the same thing. There was a bittersweet feeling about the few happy memories Sunny had of her parents.

"Well, maybe I can help you decide. What are your options? "Sunny looked at him thoughtfully, seriously, holding a yellow color between her hands.

"I was thinking draw about the time we spent when you taught me to swim on the island, or the time Violet invented a comet for me and for Beatrice."

Violet could remember that clearly. She remembered Klaus soaked, holding Sunny to keep her from sinking, and she sitting on the sand with Beatrice in her lap; she could still see the bright colors of the comet herself had invented with some old pieces of cloth. A lump formed in her throat, why did not Sunny choose a memory where her parents were still alive?

Klaus seemed speechless for a second, and after recovering he told Sunny his preference for the second memory.

Violet watched them work while rocking with love to Beatrice, who had fallen asleep. She wanted to lean on Klaus and feel protected. Their lives had been very unfortunate, but Violet would do absolutely anything for her little family, because they were a precious treasure in a desolate world.

Klaus locked the door, ignoring the pile of letters that had been piled on the floor when the mail arrived in the afternoon; and went to the room to turn off the light, without expecting to see his sister there.

Her hair fell free through one arm of the sofa and he realized that she had fallen asleep. She does too much, she must be exhausted.

Klaus switched off the light and approached her, her ghostly form under the moonlight filtering through the curtains, and charged her. Her weight felt familiar, comforting. She was his sister, inventive and absolutely intelligent, and motherly and vulnerable and strong at the same time.

Klaus felt so guilty, so abominable for loving her that way...

I can not. He clenched his teeth hard. I can not do this to her. I have to be strong.

They almost reached the room when Violet's eyelashes fluttered as she awoke in bewilderment. He could almost see the gears in her eyes, always inventing.

"Shh," he said, "sleep, Violet. You must be exhausted. "

He deposited her gently in her bed, sheltering her body.

"Stay with me," his sister's numb voice startled him, and a pain settled deep in his gut. How was he supposed to avoid his feelings by being so close to her? His sister, his older sister. "Please, Klaus, stay here."

So much guilt. So much love.

There is a phrase to define the moment of peace and tranquility that is felt just before one or several events change someone's life forever: the calm before the storm. Klaus woke up on Sunday morning, and realized that the storm had just arrived.

It was still early, but Violet was no longer in bed. Klaus rubbed his eyes and put on his glasses, wondering where she had gone. He checked in Sunny and Bea's room, in the kitchen, in the little room for inventions and in the living room, but she seemed to have vanished into nothingness.

A growing sense of anguish was born in his throat. He searched the department for a note, something to say where she had gone, only to find an old folder with a picture inside. And he knew it.

He made sure Sunny and Bea stayed asleep and closed the apartment door carefully. He did not understand why she had gone there, and he wondered for a moment if she also had those voracious feelings eating her inside, but he discarded that idea as quickly as it had come. No, he was the monster, the only monster.

The old mansion where the Baudelaire children had spent few but happy years in the company of their parents was now an almost empty lot, and only some of the strongest structures were still standing; the ash flooded his nostrils and Klaus would have gone but for Violet.

He saw her figure among the rubble, and noticed that she was still wearing her nightgown. Klaus understood, it was still difficult for him to even accept it ... that they would never see them again, that they were gone. Thanks to Count Olaf they had not had an appropriate time to get used to the idea that their parents had died and still felt that at some point they would return from an endless trip.

He took a couple of steps through the ashes, coughing a little, and walked in silence so as not to scare her.

"Violet?"

His sister examined what was left of the old walls, and only shook slightly when she heard his voice.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, and Klaus noticed that her voice sounded weird.

"It scared me that you were not at home," he replied.

There were many memories buried there, many that had been burned with ash. The old clock that Violet had used to make a great invention, all the books that Klaus had read and those he had wanted to read, and Sunny's first word, and endless nights when Klaus and Violet hugged their parents and laughed and they felt lucky and happy children. Security, love...

Klaus's eyes stung with tears.

Not once since their return had they visited their old house, thinking it did not make sense. Logical, practical; however, in the background they were still children, frightened children.

"I'm sorry I scared you, Klaus," Violet apologized, and turned to face him. Her eyes were watery and her hair was tied with her new ribbon, and Klaus could guess that she had been there for a long, long time, trying to figure out a way their parents could come back, but it was useless. No invention could return the Baudelaires to their former lives. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry".

Klaus received her in his arms and a deserted silence sheltered them while she cried in his breast, and Klaus also cried and felt somehow comforted because despite everything she was there.

"They're gone, Klaus," Violet hiccupped. "I'm glad you're here."

"I know, Vi."

Somehow that seemed like the right moment.

"Please do not leave," Violet whispered, scared. And of course she did not mean him going home, she was referring to him going away forever and she knew she was selfish, and she wanted to scream, and scream that she loved him and that she no longer had the heart to love him. She just hoped he did not hate her.

"I will not leave, Vi." Klaus kissed her forehead, trying to be as brotherly as possible.

"Stay with me".

"I will not leave," he insisted, and Violet found surprised a strange kind of pain, as if he was containing himself. She was still trembling, scared again. She searched his eyes, and what she noticed in them made her sob, aching, because it was a reflection of her own heart and was the culmination of their unfortunate lives. She did not know if she cried with relief, if she cried with sadness or despair.

"Do not hide it anymore" Violet stroked his hair, arranging it out of his forehead, "I know, I'm also in love with you."

The words tickled her legs and arms, and for a second she wondered if she had spoken them out loud or if she had only thought about them. Klaus looked at her in surprise and they both held on to each other.

"What are we going to do?" He whispered.

And she could not do it anymore. She could not with fear or with uncertainty. She did not want to keep moving away from him. She brought her face closer to her brother's (and although she repeated that it was wrong, that everything was terribly wrong, she could not stop) and caught his lips with hers.

Klaus held her cheek firmly. Infinite joy, love, the kiss felt like triumph and defeat, and he could not think. It was a thousand times better than everything he could have imagined because she was so absolutely intelligent, so real... They felt like cornered animals, deeply frightened, so vulnerable. Nothing of this matters. They had each other.

Chapter Text

“Sister, give me all the tears of the sea”

-Ramón López Velarde; sister, make me cry.

What am I doing?

Klaus forced himself to separate from Violet's lips. His hands trembled uncontrollably, one on his sister's cheek and another on her hip, and he knew that the world had changed forever.

"I'm sorry," Violet said, and Klaus could hear a drop of resentment in his voice.

She thinks I hated it.

How to explain to her that he had stopped because if he continued he could not control himself?

He shook his head.

"Violet," he said, his voice all yearning and desperation. "We can stop it now, can not we? This is so wrong."

His sister looked at him and her eyes had a fierce determination, one that Klaus had seen many times, and thanks to which they had survived, always taking a step further although it seemed that they could no longer move forward.

"Do you really want to stop it?"

And again the pain.

Klaus closed his eyes. He did not want to hurt her, wanted the opposite, wanted to touch her and kiss her and... but that was so wrong; but Violet also wanted him and he had thought that she would hate him, that she would look at him with disgust and rejection. There was a sense of relief in his heart and he clung to it with all his strength, as if it were the only thing that could save him, because in fact it was.

"I do not think I could, even if I wanted to," he opened his eyes.

Violet was so painfully familiar, so indescribable. He caressed her ribbon shyly, his hand burning with electricity where he touched the skin of her hip.

"What are we going to do?"

The two sat in the ashes, exhausted.

"You know? This makes me think of a book I read a long time ago, that spoke about a strange kind of mythological bird" he began, unsure.

"What kind of bird?" Violet asked, breathing heavily and resting her head on Klaus's shoulder.

Klaus adjusted his glasses.

"They were called Phoenix," he explained, "according to the myth, they were beautiful birds with several gifts. They had the virtue that their tears were healing, they had control over the fire and more or less every five hundred years they died, only to be reborn in all their glory."

Violet wiped the tears from her face.

"Do you think we're like Phoenixes, Klaus?" She looked at the ashes around her and suddenly they seemed appropriate. They had gone through so much destruction, always together, and there was evil in the world, but he loved her. "Do you think we can be reborn here?"

"Maybe", answered Klaus. Violet sent an indescribable tingling through his back; she loves me too.

His heart was beating painfully, a sweet agony, and he could not believe that she was real and at the same time she was everything, everything that was true and could be trusted. And he no longer cared if they were filled with ashes, if the world became unlikely or if evil thought it could reach them. There was kindness, a hopeful despair that filled him and Klaus could not... he could not understand how that could be wrong.

Violet searched his lips, hungry, and it seemed as if her whole life had been a great desert and at that moment she finally found a well of water. Klaus was everything she wanted, Klaus was the only bright light in a world of shadows.

"I love you Violet, I need you," she wanted to cry when she heard his voice.

The warmth of her hands, her calm weight, Violet sat astride him, cradling his face and kissing him with tender love.

After all the loss and fire, there was still a small redemption.

"Klaus?" Sunny's voice received them when they arrived. Her hair was tangled and she looked a bit wild sitting on the floor in her wrinkled nightclothes, but Violet was glad to see her with her guard so low... she did not think that she or Klaus could ever feel that way, or at least she had not believed it before; "where were you? Why are you still wearing your nightclothes?"

Klaus raised her. The youngest Baudelaire was already too big to need someone to carry her, but her older brother still did it sometimes.

"Do not worry Sunny, nothing happens," a slight twinge of guilt went through him, but they still could not tell her anything. All that was too much even for them.

"I made breakfast," Sunny announced, "Beatrice is still asleep."

The three entered the kitchen, where there was a plate with toasted bread and fruit salad.

"Thank you very much, Sunny." Violet put a sloppy strand of hair behind her ear, "it looks delicious."

There the three of them stopped, Violet remembered a time that seemed too far away, when Mr. Poe had gone to Briny Beach to give them the terrible news that their parents had died. She admired Sunny's strength, the confidence she had in them. And she knew that she would fight for her, tooth and nail and everything she had.

Violet helped Sunny serve the bread while Klaus checked the mail, his fingers still slightly trembling; he wanted to scream, jump for joy and hold Violet, slide his fingers through her hair... but he forced himself to calm down. He could hardly take his eyes off her, fearing that all that sudden, beautiful dream would vanish as soon as he stopped looking at Violet, but hearing her voice talking to Sunny gave him the strength to pretend that his world had not shaken.

One, two, three letters. Payments pending, Klaus did not care at that time. However there was a strange envelope, one that did not coincide with the others, and it unleashed enough curiosity in him to open it.

It had no sender or addressee, no name, or any reference; it was small and it seemed that the paper was old, yellowish. Inside there was only one sentence, written in elegant script, but it was enough for Klaus to feel his heart stop for the hundredth time that morning. It was not the first time he had read those words and he remembered the conversation he had had with Violet a few days before about the strange clock she had fixed.

The world is quiet here.

"Is something happening?" Violet's voice dragged him back, and he adjusted his glasses. Sunny looked at them inquisitively, perhaps feeling the way space, now rarefied and anxious, wrapped around them.

"V.F.D. found us," Klaus said.

"I should have known since I checked that watch, it's not a coincidence," Violet said after Klaus showed them the letter.

Sunny took her hand and gave it a squeeze, looking calm even though she knew what that meant. Upon returning from the island, the Baudelaires had made the decision not to have anything to do with that secret organization. They considered that their mission was noble, but also knew that the world was infinitely more complicated, that sometimes the noble people have to fight fire with fire, even if the world burns.

"Why do not they contact us directly?" Sunny asked, and that was also what her older brothers asked themselves.

There was no need to be so mysterious, why not just knock on their door? And if their intention was for the Baudelaires to join the organization, like their parents… why would not they have sent a sender so that they could contact them, should they decide to do so?

"The calligraphy seems familiar to me," Klaus said, "but I can not remember whose it is."

"Maybe it's time to investigate," Violet sighed, worried.

The Baudelaires fell into a silence that minutes later was broken by Beatrice's voice. Klaus hastened to calm her down and his two sisters stayed in the room, thinking, and it seemed to them that they could not find an answer.

Chapter Text

"And yet there is a fear, greater fear,

even greater than the fear of death,

a fear even more fear: the fear of madness,

the indescribable fear that lasts the eternity of spasm

and that produces the same painful pleasure."

-Xavier Villaurrutia, paradox of fear.

Violet felt the cold of the wall hit her back, and Klaus' wonderful lips were back on hers, intoxicating; she pulled him closer to herself, and heard Klaus let out a gasp. It was completely impossible, absolutely maddening, how he made her lose her mind. Once he placed his fingers on her skin, Violet exposed her heart completely. And Klaus was so soft, so sweet and tender and at the same time strong and manly... he saw her like a blind man would see the light for the first time. She would not have trusted anyone else, she realized. Only Klaus, only him.

Only in those moments she felt completely free: in the stolen seconds when they listened Sunny and Bea investigating in the living room and Klaus recharged Violet against the wall of the kitchen to kiss her. And there was relief, and desire and love, such a painful love...

Klaus held her hip firmly and Violet had to suppress a moan. She still could not believe it, it still did not seem real to her... that he loved her that way; she ran her fingers around the contour of his face, his glasses and his hair, and wanted to cry with happiness.

"Klaus!" The voice came out like a scream of whispered anguish.

"Shh" Klaus silenced her. He attacked her lips again and closed his eyes, giving himself, letting himself feel. Everything felt strange and new, comforting. Klaus thought that he had always belonged to her, even without knowing it, even when he had tried to take another path.

In those moments Violet knew that their lives would only have led to that, that it could not have been otherwise, but the guilt, the fear, still lasted. The days had changed like the leaves of the trees fall as autumn arrives, and the Baudelaire brothers would not have wanted to go back.

"Klaus," Sunny's voice calling from the living room made them stop dead. Violet had her fists clenched tightly around her brother's jacket and he breathed agitatedly millimeters from her mouth, trying to calm down. "Klaus?"

"I'll be with you in a moment, Sunny."

Violet smiled at him, feeling shy all of a sudden.

"Go now."

Violet leaned out the door and watched him kneel beside the girls. Her heart warmed up immediately, happy and quiet for a second, but then she sighed and looked at the clock. Mr. Poe had said he would go that day, and Violet and Klaus were hoping he would bring them a little better news. But in the end it was Mr. Poe, and he had never given them good news.

They would do anything, whatever was necessary to protect their girls, and Violet knew that Klaus was capable of everything to take care of them. That thought gave her more strength to face the world.

They had been trying to discover many things, but the little information they had made it almost impossible to elucidate anything. To begin with, there was the mysterious member of V.F.D who had left them the letter, and then there were the heavy volumes of tutelary laws that Klaus had been reading and that little had helped them.

And the sky falling apart every time they looked at each other.

The doorbell rang.

"I'll go open," Violet said, "Klaus, could you ...?"

His brother nodded. And Violet thanked all the gods that he could read her that way.

While she was crossing the small apartment to open the door, Klaus carried Beatrice and took Sunny's hand gently to lead them to their room, as if hiding them from Mr. Poe could also take them away from the evil that tried to reach them so desperately.

Violet waited for him to return to open the door, and when he did he gave her a gentle squeeze.

"Good evening, Baudelaire children," Mr. Poe greeted, before being interrupted by a cough.

"Come in, Mr. Poe," said Klaus politely.

Violet closed the door behind them and followed them into the living room. She felt her hands sweat and her heart beat violently. She closed her eyes. No, everything had to turn out well. It had to.

She sat on the sofa next to Klaus, wishing she could take his hand and hide in him. Instead she looked closely at the banker, fixedly.

"As promised during my last visit, I came to tell you about the review the bank is giving to your case," Mr. Poe began, and then coughed a little. "Unfortunately, we have been very busy, and your situation has not been thoroughly reviewed yet, so I can´t tell you if the application has been approved to fund a lawyer to handle the legal case."

Klaus stirred, restless.

"What about Sunny and Beatrice?" He asked, and in truth more than anything else that was what worried them the most. They could live hiding forever, letting everyone keep thinking they were criminals (and maybe we are, Violet thought shuddering, after all what we are doing is punishable by law), but without them...

Mr. Poe had another coughing fit before answering.

"Oh, yes, that other matter" he began, smiling. "Well, you will not have to worry anymore. Apparently there is already a family that is a candidate to adopt the youngest, but the board of directors is still not sure; because as I told you, your case is very complicated and we have to check it carefully."

A knot settled in Violet's throat and she could feel the tears forming behind her eyes. But she could not broke, not there. She had to follow; to follow was the only thing she knew how to do. Through the fog she saw Klaus gasping hard, his fists clenched in fury and despair.

"Mr. Poe," he began then. He wanted to tell him that he had to help them, that they could not move forward... that Bea and Sunny had to stay with them. But... (and thinking that hurt his heart) what did he expect? Mr. Poe had never heard them and would not now. They were on their own, alone. "Thanks for informing us of this."

The man smiled with satisfaction.

"There is no need to thank, Baudelaire children", Mr. Poe took back his portfolio. "Oh, there's something else I had to tell you. The bank will throw a party on Saturday night, a masquerade. One such V.F.D. left an invitation for you in my office, although I'm afraid I do not remember any person with those initials who works in the bank. Well, you should go anyway, there will be my sons, Violet."

Violet glanced at Klaus, who seemed about to say something, and the two said goodbye to Mr. Poe and the room fell silent again.

"I can´t believe it," he sighed, "Violet, what will we do?"

It was surprising to think how many times he had asked that question during the last days.

"We'll think of something," she said, speaking more confidently than she felt, "but it must be soon. We can no longer trust Mr. Poe, I do not know why we did it in the first place. Kit trusted us, we will not fail her."

A little voice appeared from the other room.

"Violet, Klaus" Sunny called, "Has Mr. Poe gone?"

"He's gone," Klaus reassured her, and the two girls came to them.

Klaus carried Bea while Violet sat her sister on her legs. Sunny's golden hair fell untidily down her back, barely becoming long. She looked at them fixedly.

"Are they going to take Bea?"

Violet hugged her warmly, her heart a little broken.

"No, Sunny, we will not let them" she replied.

"We are going to protect you," Klaus said.

Beatrice frowned at her name, watching them inquisitively and caught one of Klaus's fingers, wrapping it around with her hand.

"Can we go for a walk?" Sunny asked.

Klaus and Violet nodded, unable to speak, sure that if they let their voice out again, they would broke.

The cool evening breeze caressed Violet as they walked toward the museum, Sunny running ahead of them as she tried to reach for an elusive squirrel. Klaus had to resist the urge to kiss her right there, and he thought surprised (and relieved, tremendously relieved) that he would kiss her when they returned home.

He almost would have dared to do it, mixed and unnoticed among all the people who crowded in the street, but Sunny could turn at any second, and then what would they say?

“Look, Violet!" Sunny yelled, and she leaned on her hands on the floor to do a somersault.

"Be careful," her older sister called back, but she was smiling. There was no point in worrying, Violet thought, either because it might be one of the last happy moments they had together, or because things could be solved.

At their side passed a group of boys and girls dressed for party, laughing and chatting. They did not seem older than they were and yet they seemed infinitely younger, and Klaus thought for a second again how things would have been if the fire had never happened. Even though he knew that he would never have an answer, not even an imaginary one, that was a question that neither of them would stop asking. One of the girls stopped laughing as she passed them and looked curiously at Violet, a grimace appearing on her face, and Klaus knew she had noticed how beautiful his sister was, distracted by looking at Sunny. The girl could not suppress raising an eyebrow when her gaze fell on Beatrice, hugging Violet's neck. And then she left.

Sunny ran back to them.

"Klaus, I have an idea," he announced, and his brother took his hand to walk together. "Could Justice Strauss help us?"

Violet and he stopped, looking at each other. They had not thought about it before, even though Klaus had had many books that reminded him of the judge, and curiosity invaded them. They had not said goodbye to her precisely well. And when they returned to the city they had been too sorry to try to see her, until the idea vanished under a lot of worries. Would she want to see them again, or would she close the door in their noses? They would understand if that was the case.

"It's a great idea, Sunny," Violet finally said, "maybe we should visit."

"We will go tomorrow," Klaus added.

Sunny squeezed Klaus's hand fondly and he knew she was happy to be heard. What if they took her away, where nobody wanted to hear what she had to say? Klaus could not bear the thought of her spirit withering slowly. He remembered the fear he had felt some time ago, while the caravan in which he and Violet were going was rapidly descending toward the precipice. He remembered wanting to say something to his older sister ... he had wanted to say that he loved her. A surprise blow left him there, unable to move.

He had wanted to tell her that he loved her.

Even when he was not aware of the way he did it, Klaus was sure that since then and before, long before, he had already belonged to her, he had always belonged to her, even when he had tried to take another path.

He also remembered the fear, the searing way in which he had missed Sunny, the desire to have said something special to her.

"I love you, Sunny," he picked her up to hug her.

And while they were visiting the museum, and then when they went for a shake and even when he saw Violet playing with Sunny and Beatrice, laughing happily and calmly now that at least they had a plan, it seemed they had never stopped falling off the cliff.

When Klaus opened the door of the room he was greeted by the vision of Violet slipping her nightgown over her shoulders, the light from the bedside lamp creating shadows between her shoulder blades, and even though he had seen only the outlined shape of her back and her hair falling like a waterfall, he blushed furiously. He would have closed the room if it had not been for the sudden thought that he didn´t have to look away, he didn´t have to be ashamed.

But the heat of his body did not diminish. She turned around when she heard the door and smiled, inviting him with her eyes, suddenly flushed. Every night they had slept together, but they had never done anything other than kiss and hug each other firmly.

"Sunny is very smart" Klaus commented, wishing there was a bigger window or a fan; he took off his jacket and unbuttoned his vest.

"She is," her sister agreed, "after all, she learned to think quickly."

She kissed him, determined not to waste time. Violet knew she was crumpling Klaus's shirt but she didn´t care, and he did not even think about it. It was a piece of paradise, to have her. A piece of kindness and blessing in that land of misery.

They fell on the bed and Violet rolled to cover Klaus with her body, one leg on each side and her nightgown wrinkling. Their lips collided again and she could not believe... she could not breathe, and thought that her heart would stop at any second.

He touched her, and he wanted to memorize her forever. No matter what happened later, he would never lose that feeling. And Violet had slipped her hands under his clothes, sliding with her fingertips across his stomach. She caressed with love his side, his back, the curve of his shoulders.

"Violet," he pleaded, "never leave me."

He was afraid that she would regret. How could he live the rest of his life without his sister? How could he spend another night without her warm body hugging his?

"I will not leave," she replied, "Klaus, I will always be with you."

He sat up half-way so Violet was sitting and he wrapped his arms around her, his ear against her chest listening to her heartbeat. There he felt happy, there he was safe, and there was not a sound that he loved more in the world.

Chapter Text

"I remember, I don´t even remember the year. Only these bursts, these flashes that return with everything and the exact words. Only that little song that I will never hear again. No matter how high the sky is in the world, no matter how deep the profound sea, there will not be a barrier in the world that my deep love does not break for you. "

-Jose Emilio Pacheco, battles in the desert.

Violet didn´t wanted to see that house again. It seemed to her that somehow they could have avoided a destiny of suffering and anguish if Mr. Poe had gone astray before reaching the street, if he had taken them to another place, to another city. She still shuddered at the thought of how close she had been of being Count Olaf's wife forever, and she understood the perversion that had haunted them ever since.

Of course she knew that Count Olaf had only plotted that plan to steal their fortune, but she could remember other words, words that had made her feel uncomfortable and in which she had not been able to think through fear, anguish, and sadness. She remembered the man with the long nose staring at her, his hands holding her face, and remembered how he had called her beautiful. She remembered listening to the group of Count Olaf from the trunk of the car, mentioning how they preferred not to hurt her just for her beauty, valuing her as a trophy.

She was just a girl... she felt a little sadness.

And looking toward the tower, she remembered the fear Sunny had felt. She had not had the mind to think about anything else back then, not even to think about herself.

The old house of Count Olaf stood on the other side of the street like a tower of blasphemies, a monument to an invented poverty, broken and forgotten. Klaus gently took her face to make her look away, guessing where her thoughts were going, and Violet forced herself to focus on the door in front of them.

Of course, that house was not without memories. There were soft moments there, light flashes of light, but now none of the Baudelaires knew if they would be welcome there. Klaus approached, undecided, and raised his hand to knock, but he did not. Violet took a step, unsure, and wanted to press the bell, but could not either. Finally Sunny walked and hit the door firmly.

"Dad?" Beatrice asked, saying the only word she knew and exploring around with curiosity. But even though Klaus's heart was filled with love, he did not have time to explain why they were there.

The door opened. Justice Strauss looked identical, with her sober clothes and tender look. She stood there, put a hand to her mouth and the Baudelaires could see that she took a step back, surprised.

"Hi," Violet began, not knowing if that was a good thing to say, "How are you, Justice Strauss? We... we asked ourselves if you could help us, once again."

She wanted to say other things, she wanted to say: "Justice Strauss, we are very sorry for all that you have suffered because of us, but we feel very lonely and scared and we want to know that there is someone in the world who cares about us", but the words remained stuck in her throat.

Justice Strauss dropped her hand, her eyes traveling quickly towards the little girl in Klaus' arms.

"The Baudelaires," she whispered, in a choked voice, "But, am I dreaming? I... I did not believe I ever saw you again. "

"We wanted to apologize," Klaus said, "if you allow us, we could explain why this happened."

Justice Strauss blinked back the tears, still overwhelmed.

"You'd better get in" she stepped aside and when the Baudelaires entered the house they thought they were going back in time, and this was a place where they had felt pain and relief, that had been a refuge and as they looked around they realized that it still felt like that.

Klaus could still remember putting a heavy volume of nuptial laws under his clothes, the fear of being discovered, the impotence he had experienced seeing Violet so frightened, and Sunny so far out of reach... a chill ran down his spine, but Violet had been brave, just like Sunny, and in those days Klaus realized that together they were terribly strong.

"You're so big, Sunny," Justice Strauss said, and the voice sounded trembling. When Violet looked at her, she noticed that the woman was making a tremendous effort not to cry right there.

"I'm not a baby anymore," Sunny said.

So much pain, so much nostalgia. The Baudelaires had not had easy lives, and Violet sometimes doubted that they would ever have them. It was unfair, detestable, that some children have had to feel so afraid, that they would have been forced to get ahead on their own; but looking at Klaus, Sunny and Bea, she felt proud. She was proud of the man Klaus had become; she was proud of Sunny's strength and courage, and she was proud of the little intelligent baby that was Beatrice... and she was proud of herself, of having overcome everything.

"Everything looks the same," Klaus commented, smiling slightly.

Justice Strauss closed the door behind them.

"Sit down please."

"Justice Strauss, we want to apologize to you," Violet said. "It was very unfair what we did to you, and we would like to explain why we had to do it."

While everyone took their seats, Justice wiped away a tear. She seemed happy to see them, but she also looked like if someone had shaken a box of memories above her... Klaus knew how that felt.

"Oh, dear Baudelaires," Justice Strauss sighed, "I really did not believe I would see you again. After the fire everything was confusing."

"We know it was our fault," Klaus said, "but we had to do it, there was no other way."

The woman closed her eyes and sighed.

"I know, I know, dear."

Violet, Klaus and Sunny shared a look.

"Really?" Violet asked, relieved. They had hoped that Justice Strauss would not understand their motives at all, because even they had taken a long time to accept them.

"Of course I do," Justice Strauss's house looked identical from the last time they had seen her, but the Baudelaires could easily say that Justice looked more tired, more lonely, and with a permanent air of nostalgia; and they felt ashamed to be the cause of it all.

"But if that makes you feel better, I'll let you explain."

Where to start? How to explain so many painful things? During the afternoon the three Baudelaires took turns telling Justice Strauss everything that had happened since the last time they had seen her, what happened on the island and how they had returned, they told her about how Violet and Klaus had gotten a job and about Mr. Poe's visits, but the elders Baudelaire did not say a word about their secret.

"We hoped you could help us one more time," Klaus concluded, and at that moment Bea let out a little noise. "Kit trusted us, our parents trusted us, and we are all we have."

Justice Strauss smiled as she stroked Bea's hair.

"It's certainly a beautiful girl," she said, "you were too. You were the best children I'd ever known. But things change... the innocent children who appeared once at my door have left; you two, Violet and Klaus, are two noble people who deserve to have your family by your side. Of course I will help you."

"Thank you, Justice Strauss," Sunny said.

Violet gasped.

"I had forgotten something," she said. "Justice, have you heard anything about V.F.D lately?"

The woman looked at her surprised and denied.

"I'm sorry, after the fire I decided to take some time... away from V.F.D."

"Of course, the clock," Klaus recalled.

"A few days ago a clock came up to my hands," Violet explained, "it had the phrase engraved: the world is quiet here. First we had the hope that it was a coincidence, but recently also came a letter that said exactly the same."

"And Mr. Poe said that someone called V.F.D had left an invitation for tomorrow's masquerade, directed towards us," Klaus finished, "someone is trying to contact us."

The judge frowned, silent.

"It could be important, you should go."

Violet took Klaus's hand without realizing it, a gesture that always made her feel safe. Sunny crawled to sit on her sister's lap, yawning. It was dark and Justice realized that it was quite late.

"We should," Violet agreed, "but we'd have to ask you for another favor, if you're willing."

"Of course I'll take care of Sunny and Beatrice," Justice sentenced, even before Violet continued. "I've already lost you many times, Violet, maybe this time it's different."

And at that moment the three brothers and even the baby, who did not fully understand what was happening, felt that there was for the first time in a long time another place where they felt understood.

"We´ll need masks," Klaus said then.

"And a dress and a suit," Violet added.

"You look very pretty," Sunny told Violet as Klaus finished up the zipper of her dress, her fingers stopping more than necessary on Violet's skin. She shuddered, her skin burning.

"Thanks Sunny," she replied, "and thanks for choosing it for me."

"Klaus said you would like it."

On Saturday morning, while Violet and Beatrice were still asleep, Klaus had taken Sunny to the city center to buy a dress for Violet, and to rent an appropriate suit for the masquerade.

"At least I expected it," Klaus commented, "I really did not want to wake you up, you seemed tired."

She had been tired, exhausted after their meeting with Justice Strauss, and the fact that the judge had decided to help them, in addition to knowing that she had survived the Hotel Denouement fire, had relaxed her enough to allow herself an extra sleep.

While Violet saw her reflection in the old mirror she felt very strange. She had never worn such an elegant dress, and had never been combed in the way Sunny had done it. She blushed when she looked at her lips. Klaus had also brought her a discreet lipstick. Violet had smiled when he gave it to her, with shaking hands and stuttering meaningless words. Klaus... he knew her perfectly, he knew that in her mind full of practicality she would never have thought of using something like that, and nerves had betrayed him thinking that maybe she did not like that gift.

But in fact, strangely enough, Violet had liked it a lot. It had reminded her of something distant in her memory; her mother preparing for a party while Violet, small and stubborn, tried to put together an invention sitting on her parents' bed. Digging deeper into her memory, she knew that at that time Klaus would have been chasing their father all over the house, asking him about some book.

"Mom," laughed Beatrice, sitting on Klaus's bed beside Sunny, as she looked at Violet with bright, happy eyes; she extended her hands, almost losing her balance.

And even when the initial surprise of having heard her say her first word in the hospital had been left only in their minds as a beautiful memory, even when that word had been a serious "dad" directed towards Klaus, Violet could not help a mixture of pride and happiness escaped her in the form of panting.

She looked at Klaus, who smiled happily, and at Sunny, who seemed absolutely proud of her younger sister, but also a little pensive. Violet took the little baby in her arms and squeezed against Klaus, who in turn hugged Sunny.

"I love you Bea," Violet whispered, then took Sunny's little hand, "I love you, Sunny."

She wanted to add something else, to say in exact words why what she felt for them was crushing her, why they were one of her reasons for getting up every morning, her strength. Violet felt Klaus kiss her hair and sighed. She didn´t have to tell him how much she loved him, she would show him later.

Sunny crawled to sit in front of them, watching them.

"You remind me of mom and dad," she said.

Klaus's heart stopped a little. She realizes, he thought.

"Do you still remember them, Sunny?"

It was funny how they had never asked her. When the fire had taken their parents, Sunny was already a very precocious girl. Violet and Klaus had assumed that she remembered them, but now they were not so sure. Could she ever call them the same way as Beatrice?

Sunny looked away.

"I don´t know," she replied, "I remember how they felt."

The doorbell rang properly, so none of them had to say anything. Klaus muttered something about Justice Strauss and left.

"Violet," Sunny began, unsure. When her older sister looked at her, she discarded what she planned to say. "Be careful."

Violet smiled.

"We'll be here soon, I promise." She did not have to remind them that they should be good with Justice Strauss.

Sometimes her heart ached at the sight of her. She would have liked to return the time and protect her, and she wondered how her heart could continue to be full of innocence when the evil had haunted her since she was so young.

The building where the Mulctuary Money Management was located was full of people, gentlemen in elegant suits and tall ladies in fine dresses, and Violet and Klaus felt completely strange from the first moment they stepped inside.

"What if we go back? What if Justice Strauss needs something and doesn´t know how to find us? "Violet whispered to Klaus.

Klaus shook his head.

"We have to find whoever is sending us signals," he replied.

Violet sighed.

"You're right, who do you think it is?"

"Someone who survived the fire."

People danced and laughed around him and somewhere in the room there was a string quartet playing music. Violet held Klaus's hand.

Everything was so strange, she realized. With concerns on the agenda, Violet had hardly had time to think about this wonderful new life in which Klaus loved her. She only knew that he was there, so unmistakably real. He was her anchor to the world, always had been. Violet would not have endured having to grow up, having to watch him go... a shudder ran through her. She needed him to live, as much as she needed air and water. She loved him, she loved him and wanted to kiss him right there, and wanted to know that she was his.

I always have been, she realized.

"Could it be Jacquelyn?" Klaus's voice brought her out of her thoughts.

"Mr. Poe said she moved to Winnipeg, remember?"

They made their way among the people, walking without a strictly fixed course.

"Everyone we met once now is gone" Klaus stopped, adjusting his glasses "Violet, what if this is a kind of trap?"

He saw the apprehension grow in her eyes, the fear. He pulled her closer to himself, as if hoping to have to protect her at any minute.

"We should go, Klaus, I don´t like this."

Klaus nodded. He didn´t know why they had gone, in the first place; no matter how much they wanted to know what V.F.D was up to, it was not worth the risk. Especially with Sunny and Bea waiting for them at home.

They were about to turn around towards the exit when a waiter approached them and offered them a drink. Violet would have declined the invitation if she hadn´t seen a small paper tied to the glass.

"Thanks," she said to the waiter, and Klaus and she looked at each other.

"What do you think?" She asked, "Does this look very "V.F.D”?"

Klaus helped her untie the paper.

"It certainly looks like."

Once they unfolded it and read it, Klaus and Violet knew where they needed to go. With their hearts beating fast and wondering if they really were not making a mistake, the Baudelaires made their way to one of the large windows facing the street.

They distinguished a tall figure without mask and their breath left when Jerome Squalor looked at them.

"Jerome?" Violet stepped forward to the man, "it was you! But are you part of V.F.D?"

"Hi Violet, Klaus" Jerome greeted them, "you really don´t know how happy it makes me see you."

Klaus smiled.

"We're also happy to see you, Jerome."

And it was true. Despite not having been of great help when he was their tutor, Klaus knew that Jerome had never had bad intentions and even if he had wanted to help them, could he have done it while Esmé was around him?

The party around them was noisy and no one noticed them, and Jerome considered it a good time to answer Violet's question.

"Well, Violet, answering your previous question; yes, now I am part of V.F.D. After the hotel fire, the organization lost many members, and those of us who survived were so full of horror..."

Klaus licked his lips nervously.

"Jerome, who else survived?"

That question had been eating away at him. To both. They knew it was not their fault but they could not help but wonder how many lives had been lost, how many had been saved.

"Well," Jerome began, "we were really few. Justice Strauss, Frank Denouement, Charles ... "he sighed," I'm very sorry to say that the man with the beard but no hair and the woman with the hair but no beard were gone when everything caught fire. That's why you are here. We believe that even after all that, they have a new apprentice who is planning to smoke the world. V.F.D. is desperate for new recruits and we have been looking for you since you disappeared. First it was difficult, and from what has been investigated now we know that you were in that island. However, once we found your address, it was dangerous to enter into a direct dialogue with you. Both sides of the schism want to recruit you, Baudelaires. Those who put out fires know that you are still noble and honorable people, but those who start fires believe that you became a kind of followers of Count Olaf."

Violet closed her eyes, trying to translate all that new information, her heart pounding.

"Both sides of the schism, you say?" She asked, "Jerome, we thought it was all over with the fire. Has not it been enough horror, enough suffering, for a lifetime?"

Jerome sighed.

"It was, Violet. But neither goodness nor evil will ever end on this earth."

"Then V.F.D. expect us to join them?" Klaus asked.

Jerome nodded.

"I know you may have a lot of doubts, and that's why you do not have to give an answer right now. You can find me in this direction "he handed them another sheet of carefully folded paper. “We’ll be in contact, goodbye, Baudelaires."

Jerome left, and Violet and Klaus thought maybe it was time for them to do the same. They looked at each other and could recognize the same consternation in the other.

"Let's go home, Klaus."

But as they tried to find their way through the people, they ran into Mr. Poe. He looked exactly the same as when he was at work, his pin with "Banker # 1" attached to the coat, which on this occasion was black.

"The Baudelaires!" He greeted.

"How are you, Mr. Poe?" Violet asked, without much encouragement.

"How are you, Mr. Poe?" Klaus repeated.

Mr. Poe smiled.

"Violet, I should introduce you to one of my sons" It seemed that the banker had taken two or three glasses of wine.

Violet felt Klaus tense beside her.

"I'm afraid we already know each other, Mr. Poe, do you remember? When we lived in your house for a while."

But Mr. Poe was not listening. He dragged them with him to where a group of young people dressed in suits chatted, with their backs to them, and Violet and Klaus had trouble recognizing the sons of Mr. Poe, Edgar and Albert. They could still remember the unpleasant question they had been asked the first night they slept knowing their parents would never say good night to them again.

"Talk a little, Violet!" Said Mr. Poe, and he turned around and left, distracted. The Baudelaires waited until it seemed certain that Mr. Poe would not return at any moment.

"Let's go," Violet said to Klaus.

However, Albert, Mr. Poe's eldest son, managed to see them before they could get out of sight.

"Is that Violet Baudelaire?" They heard him ask.

"The orphan girl?" His brother's voice answered.

"Mom used to write funny things about her."

"I remember," Albert said, "She's hot, I wonder if she'd like me to be her new daddy."

His friends burst out laughing and Klaus could not help it. He felt anger rising from his stomach to his throat and his vision was clouded.

"Repeat it!" He challenged, "repeat it and I'll kill you!"

Violet felt her cheeks flush, anguished by what Klaus could do. She tried to pull him to take him away, avoiding looking at any of Mr. Poe's sons, or their group of friends.

"Come on Klaus."

"Calm, four eyes," said Albert, "it was just a compliment."

"He's crazy," they heard another young man say.

"They were always very strange," said Edgar.

Violet managed to convince Klaus to walk towards the door and she knew that he had done it solely for her; however, his grip on her waist became stronger, more apprehensive.

By the time they got home, Justice Strauss was asleep in the armchair. While Violet checked the room of Sunny and Bea to kiss them good night, although they were already asleep, Klaus began to undress, ordering all the garments of the suit to return it as soon as possible. He still felt angry, upset, and anxious. And when Violet entered the room, undoing her hairstyle, Klaus avoided looking her in the eyes.

"Klaus," she called softly. When he refused to look up, Violet said his name again.

"I'm sorry" finally said her brother, "I'm sorry, Vi."

"Don´t be sorry" Violet replied, and smiled a little, "it's natural. There were many emotions today. I'm glad Jerome is alive, you know? But I'm afraid I do not know what to think about V.F.D."

Klaus sighed finally.

"Me neither."

"We should postpone thinking about this for tomorrow" Finally Violet´s hair fell on her back, and Klaus could not think for a moment, "now, could you please help me undo the dress?"

Klaus helped her slide the delicate zipper down, her back uncovered instantly. And he couldn´t resist. There were many things wrong in the world, more than he wanted or could tell. It was wrong that someone had humiliated his sister like that, and it was wrong that after all the fires were extinguished there were still others on fire, it was bad that they had to hide and it was bad that they were so lonely. He kissed Violet's skin, forgetting everything.

At that moment there was only he and she, his precious sister, and Klaus only knew that his lips on her skin were the medicine he needed, the only one. Violet was warm and soft, and he heard her sigh.

"I love you, Klaus."

So many words. Klaus had read so many books, and yet he could not find the precise word that could define exactly what he felt for her, they all seemed too small.

He could be a child again in her arms, he could feel protected, and at the same time feel like a complete man.

"He would not have said that about you if he knew..." Klaus fell silent in mid-sentence.

"Klaus?"

He did not mean something inappropriate, he did not want to scare her.

"He would not have said anything about me if he knew I was yours," Violet finished.

Klaus closed his eyes, scared. He could feel Violet's heartbeat under his fingers, so much vitality and youth emanating from her, and he just wanted his sister to be happy.

"Klaus, I want to be yours."

Klaus let the words caress him, calm his trembling fingers. And he desired her, he desired her more than he had desired in his life, and feelings overwhelmed him. He wanted her to feel... how much and how desperately he needed her.

Violet's lips caught his, and Klaus felt the world spin giddy when he heard the fabric of her dress slide. He held her with love, with strength, a firm hand on her waist and the other on her neck, drawing her to him.

"We have always belonged" Violet sighed, entangling her hands in her brother's hair, "Always, Klaus, since we were born we have belonged to each other."

She took a step to leave the dress behind, swirling on the floor at her feet, and she was almost naked in front of him, but she did not feel a bit of embarrassment. It was natural, as the most perfect and pure of things.

"Violet," he moaned. The faint light of the gas lamp cast shadows on his face, the bed creaking a little under their weight as Violet gently laid him on the pillows. "This is real?"

His voice sounded broken, anguished and longing, and Violet knew that what he wanted to say was, for the first time, beyond words. Klaus settled himself until he was on top of her, her light body resting beneath him, and the world spun as if it made no sense, because love makes no sense, and Violet laughed, absolutely happy. She removed Klaus's shoes with her own feet, and opened the shirt of his pajamas, and then there was nothing between them. Klaus could have cried, he could have died at that moment. Violet was blushing, innocent and perfect, and Klaus stroked his fingertips over her neck, her collarbone, her breasts.

Violet let out a sob and lifted her hips, craving, longing for him. Her lips were intoxicating and Klaus could not have enough.

"Now, Klaus," another sigh, another groan. And the unmistakable certainty of belonging, "now."

Violet spread her legs for him, to receive him, and Klaus perceived her beyond all beauty . A soft, slow thrust, and Violet felt completely full, and she had never felt anything like that, so absolutely scorching; she held on to her brother's neck as she sobbed and Klaus stood there for a second, squeezing his eyes tightly as he kissed her hair and whispered to reassure her.

Violet began to move against him, awkwardly, slowly; a rhythm never before known, and everything was a wet body, so much love... there was no remedy, no salvation, no death, not even a little agony.

Everything had been, for a long time, a tangle of loneliness and despair, and everything was being rewarded for them. Klaus would live a thousand lives like that if Violet was by his side, if he was allowed to love her that way.

"I need you, it scares me how much I need you."

"Klaus" she was surrendering, half crying and half laughing, the pleasure electricity running through her; Klaus could see it in her face and hear it in her breathing and feel it in the way she wanted to please him too.

Each thrust was pleasant and painful, in a way that touched each of their wounds, wounds so old they had seemed like they were never going to heal.

How could this be wrong? Violet wondered. How could something so pure be wrong?

No, the world is wrong.

"We belong to each other, Klaus," she gasped.

He did not need to say words. Violet knew it, in the way he moved against her, in the way he held her as if she were the most precious thing, the most fragile and real at the same time. Klaus was giving himself up, he was giving himself in every way possible.

A vortex, a deep desire, seemed to be swallowing them. Both were carried away, beyond all limits and all sanity, until the world was quiet.

Chapter Text

"We were like irascible stars:

full of books, manifestos, desolate loves,

desolately sad on the edge of the world."

-Efraín Huerta, drafting for a will.

The first days of summer approached with their wonderful vitality and soon Sunny and Beatrice roamed the house all day. Klaus and Violet watched them play and read, and their hearts broke with joy and love.

Warm air came in through the window and Violet got up to hold the curtain, going through a pile of toys on the floor. As Beatrice shouted something unintelligible to Sunny, Violet felt her body shake and hid a smile, knowing that Klaus was watching her from the other side of the room.

When she turned around and her eyes caught his she blushed, thinking about the way those same eyes traveled all over her to love her at night, then Klaus looked down to return to his investigation. She let the breeze from the window touch her a moment longer and then moved away, determined to continue with the invention she had been working on.

Since the night they had returned from the masquerade, Violet felt that life and the world had changed forever. Instead of being the forgotten fog, the lonely mornings had become a warm ray of sunlight... although the wounds were still there, now there was a sweet pain, a satisfying pleasure that only he, her brother, could provide.

Her Klaus.

And she was his, as natural as life itself. The thought made her sometimes find herself smiling peacefully, as in that moment.

"What are you laughing at, Violet?" Sunny's voice distracted her, her eyes looking perceptively across the room at her two older siblings, seated one at each end of the dining room table.

"It's nothing, Sunny, I'm just happy," she replied.

Beatrice watched the exchange with interest as another soft smile began to appear on Sunny's face.

Klaus closed the book he had been reading, making Violet and Sunny jump.

"We have a few hours before going to Justice Strauss's house for dinner" he looked at Sunny and Beatrice fondly, "we could take a little outing."

"Yes!" Sunny smiled, looking enthusiastically at her older siblings; even Beatrice made a sound of approval. "Can we, Violet?"

In response, Violet sat on the floor and began tickling her younger sister. Would she know how much she loved her, what she was willing to do for her, for her sake?

"Where will we go, Klaus?" She asked, her breath stirring as the two little girls fell on top of her, knocking her over to give her a spoonful of her own medicine, until the strange sight was nothing but a cloud of laughter. "Stop Please! A truce, a truce!"

It was so strange, so unreal to see her like that ... Klaus could not help his heart filling with warmth. He walked over to gently push Sunny's hands away, as they attacked Violet's stomach incessantly, and Klaus noticed that in that commotion Violet's shirt had risen a little and her soft belly was now exposed. He could not prevent the color from reaching his cheeks. Beatrice crushed her palms against his arm and Klaus returned from his thoughts.

"We will go to the planetarium," he replied.

Violet smiled fondly.

"It was your favorite ride when you were nine," she recalled, "we had to take turns because you always wanted to go there, and I wanted to go to the inventors' museum."

She put her hand on his cheek and Klaus let the touch hug him to feel at peace.

"I remember."

She got up from the floor and extended her hand to Sunny.

"Come on," she said, "we have to hurry if we want to get good seats."

Klaus watched the little girls smile with emotion, and the pride of a father settled in his heart when he thought about how happy he was to share something he loved with them. He wanted to see them grow, he wanted to be able to share with them the knowledge that he had sought so eagerly and that, among so much despair, had saved them many times.

The day was hot, although the sky was cloudy and little raindrops spattered them from time to time, and Violet had insisted that everyone wear raincoats just in case.

"Klaus," Violet called.

Her brother looked at her and noticed the light that was hiding in her face, and behind her eyes and that illuminated her whole. That was how it had been since that night, and Klaus was secretly proud.

"What's going on?"

Violet was silent. She wanted to tell him that she loved him, even though she knew he knew. But the girls were too close, and although it was completely normal for two siblings to show affection between them, Violet knew that her voice would betray the meaning of her words. Klaus pulled her in to kiss her on the forehead.

"I know," he whispered.

When they reached the planetarium, Violet went to the ticket office to buy the tickets while Klaus, Sunny and Beatrice watched a rabbit that had approached them from one of the trees in the park.

"Four, please," Violet asked.

The woman who sold the tickets smiled at her, looking over Violet's shoulder to where Beatrice stretched her little hand to caress the rabbit.

"Is that your family?" She asked.

Violet blushed.

"They are."

"They look beautiful. I always wanted to have a family, but I never found the right man, "the woman sighed," sometimes it's a matter of luck, don´t you think?"

Violet looked at Klaus, and was amazed.

"I think you're right."

The woman smiled, handing her the change.

"Enjoy the show."

Violet took the tickets and signaled for Klaus and the girls to say goodbye to the rabbit. The screening room was dark, but they managed to find good places. The seats reclined, so that one could look directly at the ceiling, where the functions were projected, and Violet felt that more of the accumulated tension was gone when they reclined, waiting for the public to occupy their places to begin the function.

"I missed these seats," she admitted. "I feel like mom and dad will come through the door at any time."

Klaus squeezed her hand. Sunny, from the other seat, watched them. Bea was still too small to take a chair by herself, so she shared a place with her older sister.

The projector went on. The function they were giving that day was about the birth of the universe. The stars reflected on them with their mysterious beauty, and for a moment Klaus forgot all the fears that haunted them, and marveled at the unthinkable possibility of existence. It was incredible, he thought, that by the chance of a strange destiny the necessary conditions had been created for human beings to exist. It was even more incredible that human beings had so many peculiarities in their behavior; love, hate, terrible fear and hope.

And so much hatred and terrible fear had stripped them of a safe and happy life from a very young age, he mused, but they had not been stripped of love or hope. Against all odds and in some random way, perhaps in the same random way that things exist, Violet was sitting next to him, and she loved him. And he loved her madly, overwhelmingly and incomprehensibly.

"Can we come again next week?" Sunny asked, once the show was over and the Baudelaires were heading to the street to take the rickety tram that would take them to Justice Strauss's house. "Please!"

Klaus smiled.

"Next week, no, Sunny, maybe later."

Violet looked at him inquisitively.

"Why?" Sunny asked.

Klaus held up her small hand, trying to contain her while she jumped as hard as she could.

"Because next week we will go to the inventors' museum."

He gave Violet a playful look and she wanted to kiss him. The sky rumbled and finally the occasional drops of rain became a constant clip! Clap! on their raincoats.

It was still raining when they arrived at the house of Justice Strauss, and by the time the judge opened the door, Violet and Klaus, in their attempt to prevent Sunny and Bea from getting wet, had been soaked.

"For heaven's sake, Baudelaires, look at yourself! It will be better if you pass, before you catch a cold. "

"Thank you, Justice," greeted Klaus.

"I'll bring some towels to dry, dinner is almost ready."

Sunny stepped forward.

"Can I see what you cooked, Justice?" She asked.

While Sunny ran to the kitchen, Violet took Klaus's glasses and cleaned them carefully, rubbing them against the last part of her shirt that was still dry.

"Thanks, Vi."

Beatrice stammered.

"I think she's hungry"

Klaus stroked Bea's hair, and at that moment Justice Strauss entered the room with a couple of towels.

"Dry and we´ll have dinner."

Justice Strauss took Bea while humming a tune that the baby listened carefully. Klaus helped Violet to dry her hair as much as possible and then dried his own face and neck, took off the raincoats and then, finally, sat at the table. Sunny had helped Justice to serve the meal (ravioli, butter bread and peas) in a presentable way and they soon found themselves sharing, for the first time in a long time, an evening and delicious food with a person who cared about them.

It was almost as if the outer evil could not touch them there. And Klaus felt Violet at his side, happy, and realized that a great weight had risen from his shoulders.

"How has your day been?" Justice asked, soft music playing in the background on the turntable.

"Klaus took us to the planetarium," Sunny replied, "I want to go back there."

Justice smiled fondly.

"I still remember the last time I went there," she said. "It was a long, long time ago. My mother used to take me there. She bought me an ice cream, and after the planetarium we went to visit my aunt."

"It sounds like you remember it fondly," Violet said.

Justice nodded.

"Maybe you'd like to go with us next time," Klaus suggested.

"I would love to."

Violet made sure to help Beatrice eat, and for a moment the only sounds on the table were the silverware crashing from time to time against the plates and the distant music, but there was no discomfort. Afterwards, the conversation flowed alone. They talked about how much the Baudelaires had longed for the library of Justice, and about the way in which it had somehow been their refuge. And as they spoke, Violet, Klaus and Sunny realized that many, many things had changed, and there was no way to go back to the past and avoid everything they had experienced (and they realized that, at that moment, they wouldn´t have wanted to avoid it).

By the time they finished dinner they no longer felt like guests, but as part of a strange family.

Klaus volunteered to do the dishes while they waited for the rain to stop, and Justice took Sunny and Bea to the living room to play for a moment while Violet dried the dishes, the two Baudelaire siblings mired in a quiet silence that was broken a moment later by Violet.

"Klaus."

Her brother looked at her.

"What's going on?"

Violet hesitated a moment, avoiding his gaze. Klaus took her gently from her face and she couldn´t escape.

"Do you think Justice understands?"

She didn´t need to explain, didn´t need to say more. What if Justice believed they were monsters, that they had been perverted by Count Olaf, by evil, by loneliness? Klaus closed his eyes for a moment, his wet hand still on his sister's neck, feeling her pulse.

So much life. So much love.

There was no evil in Violet, Klaus realized; she was immaculate, she remained uncorrupted amid the putrefaction of the world.

But could Justice Strauss see what he saw?

Klaus trembled. Violet had moved closer and her lips danced, barely touching his.

His sister, his sister, his sister.

Klaus ran his tongue over her lips, barely a gesture, just a hopeful caress, and felt Violet surrender under his hands. A sweet kiss, full of longing...

"Justice loves us," Klaus said, "we´ll trust her."

They separated just as the judge came through the door, looking calm.

"Well, Sunny and Bea are asleep and I have to talk to you two. Leave the plates there Klaus, dear."

Justice made tea and the three sat with hot cups in their hands. She looked at them like a loving mother.

"I've been researching," she began, "and I have some proposals for you. Violet could ask for legal custody by the time she turns eighteen, and not only Sunny and Bea but also Klaus."

Violet sighed.

"But there are still at least four months until my birthday. What if at that time the bank decides that Sunny and Bea go with other families, and then I can´t do anything? Also, the charges..."

"Normally these things take a long time," Justice answered, "but you're right. It is a matter of chance, the bank could give a verdict and perform the paperwork in a matter of a couple of weeks, or postpone your case until you are old enough to ask for custody. It is impossible to know. And as for the charges, that's another difficult issue; there is so little information..."

"Justice," Klaus's voice interrupted them. He had an idea, but he needed Justice to know so that she could help them. Violet looked at him and took his hand to give him a loving squeeze. The two Baudelaires hesitated; they could talk and find a person who would listen to them and not judge them, or they could talk and ruin everything, get into more trouble than ever and end up in a tragedy. Both options felt like jumping into an abyss without a parachute, but Justice looked at them with affection and they knew that she loved them in a strange and perfect way.

And they didn´t want to continue lying to her.

"Justice, there's something we have to tell you." Klaus smiled to himself when he heard Violet.

The judge took a drink of her tea.

"Go ahead, tell me Baudelaires. I listen to you."

Violet felt vertigo, but Klaus was her anchor to the world; he looked her in the eyes and seemed to say: "everything is fine, everything is fine", even though Violet knew that he was as afraid as she was.

"Justice", Violet began.

"We're in love," Klaus finished, the words coming out of his mouth like an exhale. For a second, Justice said nothing. Almost did not change the expression on her face, except for the small gesture of bewilderment that had appeared in her mouth. And the hearts of Klaus and Violet beat with madness, but it had felt so good to say so...

"I'm glad, Baudelaires; whose?" Violet could not help but smile, perhaps from nerves, maybe from fear.

"Justice, Klaus and I love each other. Not only as brothers, Klaus and I love each other. We know that... we know that it is not right, and that it is illegal, but it is the only thing that we have, the only certain thing in this world.”

Justice closed her eyes, put her hands to her face and after a second that seemed interminable to the Baudelaires, she discovered her face. She didn´t look annoyed or disgusted; there seemed to be a touch of nostalgia and sadness again, but also acceptance and love.

"Nothing could separate you after everything that happened, right?" She asked, sighing. Violet and Klaus shook their heads. Justice rose to embrace them, and they felt the warmth. "Since the last night that I saw you before you left, in the play, I wondered for the first time in my life about the existence of destiny. I thought it was random and wonderful in the same way that my destiny had been linked to yours, and now those questions come back to my mind. Love is an extraordinary force and it is difficult to find, in any of its forms, but when you first came here, I knew there was love in my life. You have been through a lot, and you deserve love more than anyone else."

Violet and Klaus knew how much truth were in her words. She placed a kiss on the forehead of each one and when the judge sat down again and Klaus continued to tell Violet and her what he had thought, one of the biggest doubts they had had dissipated in their minds. They knew that if their parents had been there, they would have been proud of them, no matter what...

Chapter Text

“I love you and I adore you in that harmony

of sullen night, of sordid shipwreck. "

-meridian of the lover, Efraín Huerta.

This was a time when happiness seemed to flood them and it was a strange feeling, one that they had not had since their parents lived. There was uncertainty, and fear, but in some strange way Violet and Klaus felt that everything had to be solved, that nothing could against them. Several days a week they dined with Justice Strauss, either at the judge's house or in the small apartment, and took long walks with Sunny and Beatrice to museums and parks, or simply wandered around the living room or kitchen, Violet humming happily while Klaus looked at her, trying not to be distracted from the book he was reading.

During dinner, Justice talked to them more about her life and when the girls went to bed, she made tea for Violet and Klaus and told them anything that she had researched and that could help them in the case. For Violet's fortune and despair, Mr. Poe had not shown up at their door again, though every morning she was afraid to wake up to see him take their two little girls away. That feeling was a little muffled by Klaus, when he kissed her neck, or gently combed her hair...

That morning a ray of sunlight came through the window, through the white curtain, and illuminated Klaus' complexion, creating a shadow on his profile. Violet had been awake for several hours, she had woken up in the middle of the night terrified by nightmares, this time feeling trapped again in that wedding dress where all their misfortune had begun.

She felt the weight of her brother's arm hugging her warmly, protectively, and her legs entwined with his, and she distracted herself by watching his lips tremble as they did whenever he slept since he was a baby, and she let her mind free from all thought until the only real thing was his body next to hers.

She did not know how long she stayed there, in happy nonchalance, but suddenly she was aware that he was moving and looking for her, drawing her body to his with a heartbreaking and fierce hug, as if he had feared she was gone overnight. Half asleep, Klaus began to deposit kisses where his sleepy lips passed over Violet's skin, and she sighed in rejoicing.

"Good morning, Klaus."

"I love you," Klaus said, as if he could not stop the words from coming up, and she knew he had woken up completely. She opened her eyes and met her brother's, desolately hopeful eyes. Violet placed a kiss on his lips and crawled over him, careful not to crush him.

She sighed. Violet would go through all hell again, if she was allowed to make love with Klaus and redeem the world every warm morning, love him so atrocious, unsuspected, excessive. She felt him tremble with anticipation and ran her fingers through the buttons of his pajama shirt, pulling them out of the buttonhole.If Klaus had had a nightmare that night, he forgot it completely, and the anguished sensation dissipated when Violet whispered that she loved him before dragging his clothes to the floor. He felt her for a moment, warm and bright as the sun, an unsuspected treasure that unfolded before him like the only light, and he could not suppress a low moan when Violet took him and she felt him in the deepest, completely inside her soul.

Violet began to move slowly, electricity again running through them; wide lips parted and soft cheeks, and for Klaus she was the only one, the most beautiful...

He would never stop marveling, he would never take her for granted, because their love was miraculous, and if there was a paradise to which souls go at death, and he had to choose between her or redemption, he would always choose Violet.

She could see the love in his face, the adoration and the happy pleasure, and she was pleased... then she could not think.

Klaus sat up so that he had her sitting on him and he could kiss her, hold her. Violet wrapped her legs around him, squeezing and extracting words, whispers, moans.

He loved this rhythm, loved everything they built together. And he would not feel incomplete again, he would not fall again...

This was not fire, it was a sea of perfect calm, an ancient sea that groped through them. Klaus forgot his name, and the name of things, and he just wanted her to feel. Finally he felt Violet tighten with all her strength and then their love flowed with gentle waves, one after the other.

She stood there a moment longer, trembling, kissing him hard as their breaths returned to their normal rhythm.

Then Violet hugged his neck and hid her face for a second, holding back the sobs and he was still inside her. His sister.

"Here I am, here I am, Vi."

He did not have to ask what was happening, he knew that this was the only moment where she could take out fear, where she could free herself from nightmares and forget, even for a moment.

"I love you, Klaus. You are... you are..." she felt a knot forming in her throat, preventing her from speaking, and she also knew that everything she wanted to say to her brother was beyond the strength of her voice.

They breathed the soft morning, kept their little secret for a moment and then the world regained its rhythm.

"Violet, there's a recipe I want to try," Sunny looked at her and Violet knew that she could never, never say no to something; although, because of Sunny's character, they rarely had to do it. "Can we go to the market?"

She extended the still small hands and Violet carried her to sit on her legs, giving her a kiss on the head.

"What do you need, Sun?" She rarely shortened her name that way, only when she was in a particularly good mood, and Sunny looked suspiciously at her sister, wondering why her siblings were suddenly happy, and she must have seemed hesitant because Violet looked at her worriedly. "What's wrong, Sunny? Everything is alright? Do you have problems with your friends?"

She did not like Violet to worry so much about her, but she thought she understood why, after all they had been through, although many things were buried in her infant memory and most of all she trusted that they had been just like her siblings said.

"No, I'm fine. I need flour for cookies, and chocolate chips."

Klaus leaned out the door.

"Sunny will make cookies?" It was not a secret that they were his favorites.

Violet nodded.

"We need to go to the market for flour, and we no longer have milk or diapers for Bea, are you coming?" She asked out of courtesy, she knew that Klaus did not like being away from them.

"I'll go for Bea, she's still taking her nap."

The lunch hour had just passed and the street was a bit empty, the sky cloudy and gray. The Baudelaires walked to the market in a strange peace, and several times Sunny wanted to say something, but she never found enough strength for her voice to come out.

During the past few weeks something had changed almost imperceptibly, but she felt it and an idea had crept into her mind, though she did not dare tell her brothers for fear of the way they would react. Sunny could trust them, she knew, but she also remembered what her teacher had said when she asked.

Any moment they could enjoy together was a gift, and while Klaus spent a moment in the candy section with Sunny holding his hand, Violet hummed quietly. She looked at what she had in the cart; two milk cans, three packs of diapers, a blanket, a new bottle, the food and Bea sitting holding her new rattle... she sighed, trying to decide what kind of bread to carry; and thought she would not change her life, even with all the pain. She felt so much love, for Klaus, for their little daughters... a smile appeared on her lips.

"I saw, can we take these?" Klaus and Sunny appeared at the end of the hallway, arms full of candy, and Violet's smile widened. Sometimes, like that morning, Violet forgot a little that Klaus sometimes still had the heart of a child.

"Bring that here," she said, "what more do we need?"

Klaus and Sunny deposited all the goodies in the cart.

"Have we already brought Bea's soap? And the bath sponge? "There was the man again, frowning in concentration as he tried to remember what they should buy as well as treats.

He heard his sister gasp and looked at her, baffled for a moment. Violet directed her gaze behind Klaus' shoulders and looked like she was seeing ghosts from the past. Klaus felt his little sister let go of his hand before saying a phrase she had not said for a long time ("Pietrishycamollaviadelrechiotemexity"), and he was afraid to turn around and find Count Olaf again with one of his ridiculous disguises, like that time with Aunt Josephine. It was not until his mind reminded him that he was dead that he mustered enough courage to look where Violet was going.

Isadora Quagmire stared back at them, as astonished as they were. She had changed too much, just like them, and she looked older. She had a cart with some products and had grown in stature. The Baudelaires almost did not recognize her as the young student of Prufrock High School and for her they also seemed unrecognizable, so old...

The Baudelaires could not even decide exactly what they felt, relief, happiness, nostalgia, pain... she walked towards them without saying a word and touched their faces: Violet, Klaus, Sunny... and a baby in the cart. Before speaking, she hugged them tightly and they could see that she was shaking.

"I ... I ...", she tried to say something, but the Baudelaires knew there were no words to say in that situation. This was a long-awaited, desired meeting, an encounter that had been kept in the back of their minds like an eternal fantasy. Find long lost friends.

"Where is Duncan?" Klaus asked.

"Where is Quigley?" Violet asked.

Finally Isadora broke down in tears.

"I thought I would never see you again. Every day, my brothers and I wondered where you could... I'm so happy, "she said, looking somewhat ashamed of her crying.

"We... miss you very much," Klaus said.

"Quagmire," said Sunny, who seemed to have spoken again in a way that she now only used when she wanted to express a lot of affection. And that was her particular way of saying: "although we continue with our lives, not a single day went by that we did not miss you."

"This seems all so unreal," sighed Isadora, smiling through her tears. "Duncan and Quigley are here, wait a moment... there they come. Duncan and Quigley Quagmire, come here at this moment!"

At the end of the corridor, two figures appeared, carrying some products that fell from their hands when they stopped in their tracks and looked at the Baudelaires. Violet let out a laugh and rinsed her own tears and Klaus held her hand an imperceptible second.

"Quagmire!" Sunny repeated, loudly. And the Quagmire brothers smiled.

"It can´t be," Duncan said, even though he knew it was real. "I can´t believe it."

He walked quickly to the Baudelaires and embraced them for a long time, as did his brother.

"We thought we had lost you," Quigley said. "I... I don´t even know what to say."

If they had known the expression, everyone would have used Sunny Baudelaire's remarkable phrase: "Pietrishycamollaviadelrechiotemexity"; the Baudelaires smiled, as did the Quagmires. And Violet could not help thinking that the world was ordering itself again after a long chaos, that things were finally in place, where they belonged.

Their meeting was interrupted by Beatrice's slight moan, wanting to know what was happening. Klaus smiled, took her out of the cart, and the Baudelaires and the Quagmires began with the long explanation of what had happened since the last moment they had seen each other, respectively. The conversation went on and on, even after both families had paid for their products and Sunny suggested inviting them to the apartment for dinner.

"We can go in the van," Isadora suggested, "you don´t have to walk with all this."

"We are very grateful," Violet said, and it was true.

"Don´t worry, that's what friends are for."

They knew that it was true. No matter how much time had passed, they were still friends.

The Quagmires owned a blue van that was driven by Duncan. The talk followed with occasional interruptions from Violet to show the way to her friend and when they finally got home, somehow it seemed to them that the world was getting warmer and quieter.

Chapter Text

10

"I say your name with all the silence of the night,

my gagged heart screams it,

I repeat your name, I say it again,

I say it tirelessly,

and I'm sure there will be sunrise."

-Your name, Jaime Sabines.

At last the Baudelaires and the Quagmires had what they had wanted from the moment they met at Prufrock High School and the Mortmain Mountains, and although at first it seemed that everything was unreal, they soon realized that they would not be separated again. Isadora, Duncan and Quigley went to the Baudelaire apartment practically every afternoon after their work, and sometimes the small apartment was full of happy noise and beloved people; one could see Justice Strauss at the head of the table chatting with Quigley, Isadora playing with Sunny while Klaus talked about research with Duncan and Violet balancing with the bottles of Bea while avoiding to step on any of the toys that were in the floor.

They had long dinners full of smiles and something warm, full of affection, and sometimes it was so late that Isadora huddled in the armchair and Violet and Klaus insisted Duncan and Quigley to sleep in their room. Fortunately, they had not disposed of Violet's bed, because it was already very difficult for them to keep their secret.

One of those nights, after Klaus had made a space for them in the girls' room, the moonlight shone very dimly on the wall, creating unusual shadows, and the chain of bells on Beatrice's crib tinkled from time to time, moved by the wind that entered through the mosquito nets. The summer heat made it almost impossible to sleep, but Sunny and Beatrice had been snoring for a while. Klaus had noticed Violet at his side stirring restlessly several times, and he was not surprised when she sighed and asked if he was still awake.

"I haven´t even tried to sleep," Klaus replied, putting an arm under her head and tossing aside the sheets, too heavy for the heat.

Violet hugged him and pressed her face against Klaus's neck for a second, inhaling his scent. And he kissed her afterwards, for a long time, as if telling her how much he had missed all day long to kiss her.

"Do you want to go outside?"

Klaus nodded.

Carefully, trying to make as little noise as possible, they slipped out of the room after checking that Sunny and Bea were okay. They crossed the room, where Isadora slept, and climbed the fire stairs to the roof.

In the city the lights shone with life, oblivious to the pain, and a warm and barely refreshing wind blew against them, causing Violet's hair to fly in all directions. Klaus could not stop his heart from stopping when he saw her, the nightgown stuck to her body, so young and adult...

She sat on the floor and patted the place next to her once.

"Come here, Klaus."

When he sat down, she hugged him again; this time he sank into her neck and Violet wrapped her arms around him. Before, she had only been a sister, now she was also a lover, companion, and his life...

"I like our life now," Violet said. "Except for Mr. Poe, for V.F.D, the secret... I like our life now."

"I wish I could tell them," Klaus replied, unable to contain himself.

He felt Violet nod.

"I know, but we can´t."

Klaus also knew that.

"Klaus, can I ask you something?"

There was a moment when a drowsy silence filled the summer air, and Klaus had almost fallen asleep.

"Whatever you want," he finally replied.

"That time, when I was nine and you were eight years old and we had to take turns between going to the inventor's museum and going to the planetarium, why did you care so much about the sky?”

When Violet mentioned it, Klaus noticed that there were no clouds to block the passage of the starlight, brilliant as the purest crystal, faraway as the life they had once had, unattainable... Klaus had liked them because the theory about the evolution and formation of the stars, and their life cycle, seemed very interesting to him.

All the stars, Klaus had read, begin in the same way: as a matter of a nebula, a cloud of gas and dust. Although in the beginning the stars share more or less the same composition, they often develop at different rates and eventually separate; they live for billions of years, and then they suffer the most violent and beautiful death of all when they explode to become, sometimes, supernovas.

Klaus had found himself thinking about the way people see the stars from Earth, and that somehow it does not matter how long human lives are, how passionate or simple, there is something very much higher.

"When you look at the sky, Violet," Klaus said then, "think that at least one of the stars that shine above have seen humanity pass by, and the world grow old."

Violet pressed closer to him.

"Then they are the memory of our lives, right?"

Fear, love, betrayal...

"The stars are the memory of the world."

Outside the sound of a horn filled the night, the city did not stop. And the world turned its enormous gears, always forward, and time did not forgive. But Klaus held Violet's face in his hands, terribly full of love, and he knew that life had an unsuspected meaning and he remembered the words of Uncle Monty. Almost as if she had read his mind, his sister whispered so that he could hear her words only in his ear.

"Life is an enigma of esoteric things."

Violet leaned back a moment, pulled out her ribbon, and tied her hair. And Klaus looked at her, all the time, because any second with her was a gift and he did not know if the next day would come. She made him feel safe; she was like warm, calm water, transparent only to him.

"I'm going to keep the memory of this moment intact," Violet said, "because everything that exists right now will never be the same again."

One day we will see it as the most remote prehistory.

The Quagmires were aware of the situation in which Sunny and Beatrice were and had promised to help them as much as they could. They also knew about V.F.D and found it a bit strange that no one had tried to contact them. They talked about it one day when Quigley had been absent all afternoon and Klaus and Violet sat at the table with Duncan and Isadora, Beatrice babbling and gesturing in Isadora's lap; Sunny preparing a cold fruit salad to snack on.

"In a way it would have been easier to find us," Duncan said, "we never had criminal charges, so there was no need to hide."

Klaus frowned.

"It's what I find most disturbing," he said, "and as much as I think about it, I do not find an answer that makes sense."

"V.F.D. he was guilty of our parents dying," sighed Isadora, waving a rattle to entertain Bea," even if it was indirectly; and I know that they believed that it was a noble organization, but one can´t be noble or evil, the human being is by nature both."

The friends were silent for a moment, and Violet got up to help Sunny carry the platter of fruit to the table. Then she helped her to get into the chair and everyone ate a few mouthfuls before the door opened, startling them.

"Hi," Quigley said, taking off his jacket to hang it on the rack. "I regret the delay, I stayed in the library studying some maps. And I think we have to talk."

The Quagmires did not have a more luxurious home than the Baudelaire apartment, but it was big enough to start storing a small library where sometimes everyone spent the morning.

"What's wrong?" Klaus asked.

"Fruit?" Sunny asked.

Quigley took a plate and began to serve himself.

"Thank you, Sunny," he replied. "What were you talking about?"

Violet had taken Beatrice and the baby was sitting at the table, causing a piece of mango to slip from between her fingers, and the older Baudelaire was trying to clean up the mess.

"We were talking about how strange V.F.D. is," she answered, "and about our parents. I can´t believe they were capable of keeping so many secrets."

Quigley composed a smile that disconcerted them.

"Then you'll love to know this," he said, "I discovered a property that our parents had together, it's a country house on the outskirts of the city, and it belongs to everyone of us."

He pulled out a map and spread it out on the table, and everyone leaned forward to see it better. Too surprised to speak, the youth examined the document for a long time.

"It's not in the will that Klaus studied," Violet said finally. "We had never heard of... and our parents... if they were so close, why have we never met you before?"

Her voice broke and she tried to compose herself. She hugged Beatrice and gently laid her cheek on the girl's head; Bea touched her neck and Violet sighed. She didn´t want to hide secrets from either Sunny or Bea; it seemed to her that their parents had become strangers and she didn´t want them to grow up feeling the same. It hurt her heart to think of the secret that she and Klaus shared and she wondered if Sunny would understand.

She could not look her sister in the eyes when she came over to give her a hug.

"The property is not in the will," Quigley agreed, "nor in the bank's records. I went to investigate it, that's why I took so long. It's like it's a ghost property. The only thing I could find about that is this map, and the scriptures."

"So, can we make use of the house?" Duncan asked, "Do you remember the project we came up with while we were at the Prufrock? Maybe we could start to make it happen. It would be amazing to be able to finally print the articles that I've been working on."

"Quagmire & Baudelaire," Sunny said, smiling.

Everyone at the table shared a smile.

"It would be incredible to get away from the city a bit, to go to the countryside," Isadora sighed.

Thinking about that gave them hope, but as they discussed all the incredible things they could do, neither Violet nor Klaus was left with the guilt that comes with the secrets.

It started raining shortly after the Quagmires left for home. Klaus had sat down at the table to continue with some of his research and Violet, who had just finished an invention, was trying to make Bea lose the fear of rain by singing to her.

She was curious at the maternal sensation that settled in her heart when she had to hold the baby in her arms, when she gently rocked her as she thought her mother had rocked her. And when she helped Sunny to cook, or when she wrapped her in the night and kissed Sunny´s forehead...

She was still very young, she knew, but in some strange way it comforted her to think that she was the mother of those two girls, at least the only one they had known. And when those thoughts came, others came that made her blush, and her heart filled with desolate longing.

Bea seemed to have finally fallen asleep, so Violet placed her gently in her crib and crossed the hall to go to the room and change her day clothes for her nightgown.

Finally she went to the kitchen to look for Sunny, and ran into her two siblings sitting at the table. Klaus tried to comfort a tearful Sunny, rinsing the tears with soft fingers and Violet could see the alarm in his eyes, a reflection of hers, and hurried to approach.

"What's wrong?" She asked, a tinge of panic slipping through her voice, "Sunny, are you okay?"

"She doesn´t want to tell me," Klaus said, anguished.

Sunny hiccupped and hid her little face in her brother's chest, hugging him so that her hands clenched into fists around the fabric of his shirt, crumpling it, but Klaus didn´t mind that. He looked at Violet.

This was not Sunny's own behavior. She had gone through many, many things. The world had been raw and rough for her very early in her life, and made her an unusual and stronger child than most. Violet could not even remember when it was the last time they had seen her like that, so broken, and that terrified her.

"Sunny, I need to know what happens. Please."

She could still feel her in her arms, she could still remember her, small and babbling, and she knew that for Sunny, Klaus and she were all the world, her everything. She felt nostalgia, a heartbreaking sadness when she realized how much she had grown up and wished she could feel Sunny again nestled in her lap, small, small.

"Can you tell us, Sun?" Klaus hugged his little sister. He wanted to tell her, he wanted her to know that he and Violet would do everything, absolutely everything for her, they would give life... a flash of fear that he had felt when Olaf took her went through his body; he would protect her, he would always protect Sunny.

"I don´t know how," Sunny admitted, soothing her sobs. Violet stroked her hair until she calmed down, but didn´t let go Klaus. Sunny looked at them, bright eyes that Violet still remembered in their father, and breathed a little to be able to speak.

Her siblings waited patiently.

"You can tell us anything," Violet whispered, "anything."

Sunny hesitated a moment before speaking.

"I wish you could be like mom and dad."

Klaus's heart stopped and he heard Violet make a strangled noise, and Sunny's tears ran back down her cheeks though she didn´t sob this time.

"What do you mean?" Violet asked, her hands shaking. "Be like them?"

Sunny stretched out her arms to hug her older sister.

"You know what I mean."

It was a relief not to have to keep secrets. Violet sighed and shared a look with Klaus. How had they believed that she would not understand? She knew better than anyone, and she always made them look things better.

"Sunny," Klaus began, "Violet and I love each other."

Sunny sighed.

"I know, but I want you to love each other the way mom and dad did."

Suddenly it seemed so laughable that Violet could not suppress a smile. That was just the proof that they had always loved each other, always...

"Sunny; Klaus and I love each other the way mom and dad did."

"Are you saying it just to make me feel better?" Sunny asked.

Klaus and Violet shook their heads.

"Of course not. It is true. We regret having kept secrets, but things are not easy..." Klaus' voice broke.

Sunny kissed her siblings in the face.

"I know. Once I said it and my teacher said that it was very wrong, and that it is abominable, but I don´t know what that word means."

Klaus finished wiping the tears from Sunny´s face, his fingers trembling and he could not look at Violet. He didn´t wanted to think about the consequences that would come upon them if it was known, and he didn´t want her to suffer because of him, he didn´t want to know what people would say about her.

"Klaus," Violet touched him, soft on the cheek, "I know what you're thinking. Forget it, we're in this together."

She did not want to say how terrified she was of the possibility of things being different.

"What's wrong?" Sunny asked, drawing their attention back.

Klaus sighed.

"Aberrant means that it is detestable," he explained, "it means that it is something so, but so bad, that it is worthy to be hated."

Sunny frowned.

"Why?"

"Because siblings should not love each other like this, Sun," Violet said, "is forbidden by law."

The three sighed, tired.

"It shouldn´t be forbidden, there's nothing wrong with two people loving each other."

Sunny was so precocious... but still didn´t know much about the world, Klaus realized; she hadn´t known more evil than Olaf, and although this had been devastating and atrocious, how could he explain to her that there are more bad things in the world you can count on? Things that made him and Violet embrace in the early hours of the morning, crying softly, surrendering in each other's arms, extinguishing the fires of the world even for a moment.

"It shouldn´t, but that's the way things are."

"Then I will not say anything," promised the youngest of the Baudelaires, "but it makes me happy to know."

"And it makes us happy to tell you."

Sunny stayed in the bedroom with them, as in the old days when they shared a single bed too small for them, with blankets too thin. Now the bed was wide and the room quiet, and their hearts were calm. And it seemed to them that they had always been her parents, that life had always been this way... and Beatrice and Bertrand Baudelaire seemed to be distant ghosts, but the Baudelaires could mourn for them and think for a moment of a paradise where they could gather together again without fear of the world.

Chapter Text

“Allow me to rest, to loosen the muscles of my heart and let my soul slumber so I can speak, so I can remember these days, the longest of the time.”

-Something on the death of Major Sabines, Jaime Sabines.

The next Saturday morning seemed like a perfect day to go out in the open, so when the Quagmires arrived at the apartment they found the Baudelaire family preparing ingredients for sandwiches and desserts for a picnic. Soon the morning was filled again with joy and everyone followed Sunny's orders ready to get a picnic basket full of delicious things.

After Duncan smeared a slice of bread with mustard, he passed it to Violet for her to put the ham and lettuce and then she handed it to Isadora so she could finish the sandwich with the tomato, cheese and onion. Meanwhile Quigley and Klaus were responsible for preparing the pie under the disapproving look of Sunny, who had just discovered that her brother was not exactly a good pastry chef. Beatrice seemed immersed in the task of dismantling the sandwiches, and changed her attention to Violet´s ribbon when she approached to make sure the baby was okay.

"This is not working," Klaus looked at his hands, full of sticky dough, and avoided Sunny's gaze. "I don´t understand what we did wrong.”

He shared a glance with Quigley, who shrugged and tasted the mass of one of his own fingers.

“It doesn´t taste bad."

Sunny denied forcefully.

"How many eggs did you put?"

Quigley smiled.

"I put two."

Klaus sighed.

“I put two more.”

As Sunny's fury broke loose in the kitchen, and Klaus and Quigley covered themselves of the sticky dough balls that flew at them, laughing, Violet finished wrapping the sandwiches and carefully placed them in the basket. They waited for the boys to repeat the pie dough without mistakes and then the house was filled with an intense smell of raspberries coming out of the oven, while Klaus showered again to remove the sticky material from his face and hair.

Quigley also showered and when the pie came out of the oven and finally everything was ready for the picnic, there was only one more thing to do.

"Where will we go?" Violet asked.

Everyone looked at each other. Finally, Duncan spoke.

"Well, we thought about... you know, we're curious about the country house."

That idea didn´t sound bad, and Quigley was in charge of checking the map to know the correct path. Before noon they were raising the basket, some blankets and a gallon of lemonade to the back of the Quagmire van.

Duncan drove through the heavy traffic of the city and then onto a road where the Baudelaires had never been; in the sky the sun was hiding doubtfully behind some obscured clouds, but the air was warm and heavy as it is on the mornings of summer days.

Violet knew she was far from it, but sitting in the back seat of the van she felt for a moment like a normal young girl, escaping the liberating solitude of the countryside, the wind coming in through the window and cooling her face, and shaking her hair gently.

Klaus saw her like that: the most absolute beauty of youth; and he knew he was lost, that he would never look at her any other way because he belonged to her, he belonged to her hands and body and he belonged to the sweet pain of her lips. And he didn´t ever want to be anyone else's.

He caught Sunny looking at him and saw that his little sister could not suppress a smile, a light in her eyes. And he smiled back, and for a second they shared that gesture, accomplices.

Beatrice clung to Violet and she sang softly in her ear to reassure her, and for a while her voice filled the van and the Quagmire and the Baudelaires kept silent to listen to her, and to feel the suffocating air of the road and see how the sun was spilling in the sky. Then they began a carefree and happy talk.

Almost an hour passed before they reached the location marked the map, and they saw a large and magnificent house. It was smaller than the house they had had with their parents, but compared to the apartment it was huge. Duncan parked the van and everyone went down to admire the building better.

"It's amazing," Isadora whispered, looking at the porch.

A hammock hung there, rocked by the soft wind; the walls were white and there were large windows, the door was glass and gave a wide view inwards. Klaus carried Sunny and Violet took Beatrice, and they followed the Quagmire as they entered the property.

"I never thought I'd see such a house again," Duncan said, and went to the fireplace.

Two photographs hung on the wall. In one of them a woman held the hand of a boy, and at her side a tall, smiling man carried a girl on his shoulders while another boy stood next to him. That was the Quagmire family many, many years before. Duncan picked it up to show it to his siblings, so the Baudelaires gave them that moment of privacy and approached to see the other picture.

Violet contained a gasp when she realized how her family had changed since then. She could remember when they had taken that picture, outside their old house, a few months before the fire. And she ran soft fingers over the glass, almost fearing it would crumble into memories.

Klaus came to her and together they admired the photograph, with Sunny and Beatrice in their arms. Their mother smiled; recharged in their father, a bundle of blankets in her arms from which the face of Sunny appeared, drowsy. And next to them, an unrecognizable Violet, a little girl, held Klaus's hand. They all smiled.

And now they were standing there, and there was no longer Beatrice or Bertrand, only they and their two daughters. But Violet and Klaus knew, in their hearts, that their parents were still there.

"I miss them," Klaus said, wiping away a tear.

Violet nodded.

"I miss them too."

Sunny was silent, perhaps trying to find in her memory more than vague images. She knew that she had been a beloved baby, and that she was happy with them and that she loved them with all her heart, but she had never been alone. In the fire they lost their house, their parents and their old life, but they didn´t lose the love in their hearts, nor the goodness, nor the infinite fidelity.

Violet kissed Bea's hair and they turned to the Quagmire, who watched them with similar gestures of nostalgia and pain in their faces.

"Life is a continuous find and lose," Quigley said, and everyone nodded. "We should turn this house a monument to them, a monument to the nobility they taught us."

Klaus smiled.

"We´ll do it. They would be proud of us."

Life is a continuous find and lose, but in that becoming there are things, people and sensations that never leave us. Just as Klaus and Violet knew that their love was one of those things, and Sunny was sure that her siblings would never leave, they thought about the friendship they had with the Quagmires and they realized how many valuable things they had in their lives, more beyond the material and the common, an imperishable communion that told them that, after all, they were fortunate as few people in this world.

After cleaning a little, they decided to open the curtains and let the light enter the house to give it life, even when they put the blankets out on the grass and sat down to enjoy the delicious food they had brought. They spent the morning lying on the grass, sharing laughter and watching the misty clouds and occasionally feeling a heavy drop of water fall on their faces.

They found that they had more in common with the Quagmires than they had yet discovered, and they were also their family. Sunny had no qualms about playing pranks on Klaus and Duncan every so often; Beatrice tried to have a conversation with Quigley, in which she show him without real words the new shoes Klaus and Violet bought for her; and even Violet and Isadora laughed playfully at their brothers as they watched them try to climb a tall tree that grew on the edge of the garden.

At midday, Isadora read for them some poems that were included in a poetic anthology that a small publisher would publish next month, and received so many compliments that she blushed.

But by late afternoon they had to return, and when the van stopped in front of the apartment it was raining hard. The friends said goodbye with happy smiles and Klaus hurried to open the front door while his sister covered Bea with her own body from the rain and Sunny clung to them, half wet and half dry.

Arriving home was so comforting, and there was a warmth, a warmth that had nothing to do with the weather or the fire, and Violet sighed when she took a hot shower after bathing and putting the two little ones to bed. It had been a long day and she was happy to feel the water running down her skin, unconcerned.

She closed the shower faucet and wrapped herself in the towel, her long hair wet and slippery, and opened the door to their room.

Klaus was waiting for her in bed, already changed and half asleep, a book was lost from his hands and when Violet gently removed it to put it on the bedside table he opened his eyes and looked at her, fear dissipating in his pupil once he realized it was her, replaced by a strong tenderness, and painful and absolute love...

"It is okay, Klaus," Violet gave him a soft kiss, "sleep."

"I was waiting for you," he shook his head gently, removing the last vestiges of sleep and adjusting his glasses.

Violet gave him a smile. She loved him madly, loved the way he was her brother, and her lover, her only partner forever, and she always wanted to be his. She loved everything about Klaus; how he concentrated when he was doing an investigation, the habit of always adjusting his glasses, she loved his mind, his intelligence and simplicity, so much kindness.

"Would you help me dry my hair?" The words left her lips before she could stop them, but Klaus just smiled and got up to take another towel from the closet. Then he dried Violet's hair while she stood still, helpless as a child.

"When summer is over," Violet sighed, "Sunny and Bea will go back to school and I'll miss spending the morning with them."

Klaus pressed a kiss on her hair.

"I know. Also me, do you… remember the last summer we spent with mom and dad?"

His sister smiled at the memories.

"Mom cried when we went back to school, but she had Sunny and she felt better." Her voice became a whisper, almost faint. "We did everything: we read with them, we went to the theater and the beach, and we camped in the woods... even in the garden. We had that odious fight, you and me, remember?"

Klaus stopped drying his hair and she turned to look at him, her breathing quiet.

“You were too stubborn," Klaus commented, jokingly, and she gave him a playful punch on the arm. "Auch, that's not fair!"

Violet laughed, a happy laugh that Klaus thought was forgotten, and he couldn´t help but laugh with her. But soon the laughter stopped and Violet looked him in the eyes with seriousness, the pain marked in her eyes.

"How did we get here, Klaus?" She sighed, her voice breaking his heart "back then I never believed..."

Klaus took her in his arms and slid his lips until he found hers. He kissed her long, as if time didn´t exist, as if he were saying that there was no way to know. Things couldn´t change anymore and he wouldn´t change them if he could; not if it meant he would never kiss her again, to look at her in the intimate way she allowed him to.

He slid his hands over Violet's arms, a comforting and tender caress. He could feel her long hair still wet, the ends itching in his skin as he ran his hands over her back. Klaus didn´t have to pretend anything, he didn´t have to behave differently while being with Violet. He exhaled a sigh on her lips that made her skin tingle.

"I´m happy now," he said.

"I thought we would never see Quigley, Duncan and Isadora again. Today was like... being at home."

The air was filled with something heavy, perhaps fear or suspicion; they knew they had to talk about that too; they couldn´t pretend that nothing had happened before, but when Violet met his eyes Klaus denied softly.

"We´re here now," he said hoarsely, and Violet heard the wish as an echo of her own voice.

Klaus held her against him, full of uneasiness; and closed his eyes a moment when he felt her unbutton the shirt of his pajamas calmly, trembling fingers wrinkling the fabric and he wanted to cry when the kiss came, the thousands and thousands of kisses that looked like defeat and triumph, and everything that seems like poetry... and it´s poetry.

Violet loved the way he held her, possessive and tender and she could feel the fear, the pain that would never go away.

This time they took their time. Klaus ran his lips over each crevice of skin, loving her tenderly, kissed her breasts and sent a swirl of anticipation through her blood. He looked at her a second: eyes closed, cheeks flushed, and she was his sister, she had always saved and protected him... Klaus loved her more than life itself.

And the way Violet gasped his name when Klaus kissed her hips made him feel secretly proud.

Everything was too much; she couldn´t stand, she needed him, she loved to hold Klaus inside herself and feel that she protected him from the world. She felt trembling when her brother left a mark on her neck, and then his lips were once again on hers and Violet wanted to be there forever.

Again that sea, that dangerous sweetness, that anguish. Klaus thought he would faint when he buried himself in her, and Violet let out a deep and agonizing moan, a disturbance in the air... like waves shaking.

Countless times they had been terribly close to losing the other, and somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he had loved her before, long before... Violet saved him at the mill, and he remembered her lying on the hospital stretcher, so terribly beautiful. This had been a terrible beauty, so helpless. And Klaus could remember the fear, the dryness in his throat, the anguish.

He hugged her against him. He could never lose her, never...

They were reassured by the knowledge that nothing could separate them; Violet would always follow Klaus, anywhere, wherever he took her, she would go, even to death itself.

She didn´t know exactly when life had become that way, she thought, but in her heart she had the memory and the first time she realized she didn´t feel the normal love of a sister. It was at the mill, and she knew that Klaus was her everything.

Klaus had been a child then, but time had dragged them along, like sand sinking offshore. Now he was almost a man, her refuge.

Her only hope.

Violet allowed herself to lose in the sensation, and for the first time she thought that she hadn´t failed her parents, that the promise was intact, whole.

He looked at her with love, dying a little with each slow thrust, parted lips, lips crashing against lips, and wet bodies. He would never want someone else; they were destined, destined, like two streams of water colliding with each other to form an unpredictable tide.

Klaus sent her by a vortex; a spiral of pleasure that was forming in her belly, growing, growing. And he cried out her name before spilling into her. It was the best feeling, the most desired moment... to feel him filling her. Violet held him as he collapsed, shattered, and then heard him sob her name one more time.

Violet, as if it were the most beautiful word in the world.

Loving each other was a happy longing, a hope among fresh grass, like the dew of a rainy morning; an inexhaustible sea...

And they calmed down; wrapped themselves in each other's bodies, whispering words, whispering love that only can be said secretly, in the silent of the night.

Chapter Text

So flags flapped like ruins.

Stars had the thickness of death.

We drank love in black cups of ash.

Oh that love, that smell, that pain!

-Drafting for a will, Efraín Huerta.

"Violet," Sunny's worried voice drew Violet from her sleep and she blinked a couple of times to wake up. She held out her arms for her little sister to curl up, but she noticed that the other side of the bed was empty and that the sun's rays were coming in through the window, which made her frown.

"What time is it, Sun?" The voice sounded strange and her mouth felt dry.

Sunny snuggled into her arms and tucked a lock of hair behind Violet's ear.

"Almost ten o'clock; Klaus thought it was okay to let you sleep more, but I think you should have breakfast now."

They always did, when the other managed to have a little more sleep; they could never take away that mercy. But it was not usual for the sleep to extend so much, there were always nightmares, fear, and they woke up at any time of the night almost believing that they would be in Olaf's old house, or at Carnival, or any other terrifying scenario.

It was always an indulgence to realize that they were in each other's arms.

"I'll be at the table in a minute," Violet kissed Sunny's head and she jumped out of bed and disappeared around the room door hopping.

Violet stretched, yawning, and suppressed a moan when she felt a pain in her back. She almost did not want to think about all the work Klaus had to do while she slept, dressing Sunny and Bea and watching that everything was in order; more than anything because she did not want him to have to take full responsibility. Klaus had always proved himself to be a careful and reliable guardian; attentive to any detail, and he knew exactly what temperature the shower water should be to bat Bea, he always knew all the details of Sunny's schoolwork and when he noticed the weariness in his sister's eyes he never hesitated to help, but the two girls were too much for one.

"No, Klaus!" Sunny's voice came down the hall, happy, so Violet did not worry but she rubbed her eyes to wake up completely. She heard small steps and then Sunny entered the room, pursued closely by Klaus.

The middle Baudelaire was already showered, dressed, and was carrying Beatrice while trying to grab Sunny, who jumped up on the bed and hid behind Violet.

"I told you not to wake her, little monster," Klaus' voice was full of affection, and he deposited Bea between the blankets to attack his little sister with tickle. "Now come here."

Sunny screamed and writhed behind Violet, who joined her brother in the attack.

And they felt a beautiful happiness when they saw her laughing, writhing under her hands. Would they have loved each other so much if things had been different? Before the fire they had been very close siblings, always enjoying each other's company, and once Klaus overcame the misgivings that had come with Sunny's birth, Violet had almost never seen them separated; she had even seen Klaus many times fall asleep in the old library with his glasses on, a book in his lap and Sunny firmly grasped, resting her head on his neck.

Sunny decided to attack them with soft, affectionate bites. And then everyone exhaled a breath and Sunny dropped on Violet while Klaus approached Beatrice. Violet combed her sister's soft hair and they all lay there for a moment, submerged in the peace and happiness of being together.

Some people enjoy making long trips to distant and exotic places, other people get along so badly with their family that they form lives apart from them, and some others, like the Baudelaires, only feel complete if they are with those people with whom they have passed all their life.

Violet was beginning to fall asleep again, but she remembered all the duties she had to do at home and stretched, almost fighting against her body.

"Breakfast is still on the table," Sunny announced, sighing. "I prepared something special today."

When they sat down at the table, Violet smiled wistfully. Sunny had recreated the recipe for chilaquiles that Hector used to make for them, and she almost expected to hear the crows outside. She wiped away a furtive tear, hoping no one would notice. How desolate they were, how lonely they had lived back then.

"This tastes delicious, Sunny," Klaus said.

Sunny smiled, swelling with pride.

"It's for the green tomato."

When Violet tasted it, she felt a slight itch in her mouth, a strange and new and delicious taste. She hurried bite after bite without speaking, until the plate was half empty.

"Mom," Beatrice urged, splashing chilaquiles everywhere from her little chair. She frowned and looked at Violet almost with complaint.

"You will not know if you like it if you do not try it, Bea," Violet sighed, "I swear it's delicious."

Klaus handed her a napkin to clean the girl. When Beatrice finally deigned to try the food, Sunny smiled again satisfied that the baby liked the taste. The phone rang and Klaus got up to attend while the girls finished their breakfast.

"Do you need help with that?" Violet asked her sister as she pointed to the jug of juice. "Sunny, I was thinking something."

"Just a little, please. What is it, Violet? "The elder Baudelaire smiled calmly.

"I know you find many recipes in the books Klaus brings for you, but I thought it would be fun if you and I signed up for some cooking class. My work friend, Angelina, told me she knows a chef who does courses. "

Sunny's expression was priceless, a light flooding her whole. She hugged Violet and snuggled into her for a moment.

Beatrice claimed the attention of both of them and they both pampered her for a few seconds, then Klaus came back.

"Who was it?" Violet asked, looking at him with a soft smile.

Klaus sat down again.

"Quigley," he replied, taking another spoonful of chilaquiles. "They were wondering if we want to go see movies on their new television. I told them we'll be there at noon."

"Should we bring something to eat?" Violet asked.

"Can we watch a cooking documentary?" Sunny asked.

Klaus shook his little sister's hair.

"Possibly."

They finished their breakfast with ease, and Violet decided to take a shower while the laundry finished washing. She listened to Klaus trying to control the pair of eddies that were Sunny and Bea, jumping in circles all over the room.

The hot water hit her back, sending a delicious relief... she tried to remember some sudden movement that had hurt her; she had been too tense lately, she thought, it was normal for her to feel sore. Besides, she reminded herself, she had spent the night in Klaus's arms, loving him. It surprised her that she had not felt the consequences before.

She relaxed for a moment, listening to the familiar sounds of the house, the familiar voices. Many people would have said that for a seventeen-year-old girl it was hurried to make sure that she had found the love of her life, or the place where she would like to spend the rest of her life, but most seventeen-year-old girls had not gone through everything that Violet, Klaus and Sunny had passed. And she realized that she did not want another life, her heart always filled with peace when her family was close.

The morning passed quietly; Klaus bathed Sunny and Beatrice, who in a very determined way announced that they would not bathe without the other, and prepared an onion dip for the afternoon of movies.

"Violet!" Sunny's agitated voice yelled at her throughout the house. When Violet leaned out, she found her in the hallway: she had apparently escaped from Klaus, because her hair was dripping water on the floor and holding Bea's hand, both wrapped in towels. "Would you make us braids?"

Klaus left the bathroom in a hurry.

"I swear I do not know how they do it; in a moment I'm saving the shampoo and for the other one they are not where I left them, "he complained, however Violet could see the happiness in his eyes, and she smiled.

"Come here, little imp," she carried Sunny in her arms, not caring that her dress was soaked. Her sister gave her a loving bite. "So you've convinced Bea to participate in your tricks, huh?"

"She volunteered," Sunny warranted. "Will you make my braids?"

Klaus watched Violet drying and dressed Sunny carefully while he did the same with Beatrice. Then the eldest of the Baudelaires combed Sunny's hair, her fingers holding it carefully to avoid an unnecessary and painful pull. When she finished and Sunny thanked her with a kiss, Klaus waited for the girls to play again and approached his sister.

Violet looked away, but Klaus could guess what she was thinking.

"I remember it too," he said, taking her face to kiss her nose, her forehead, the birth of her hair... then he protected her in a hug. "Mom tried to make you braids for hours, but they always fell apart."

Violet took a deep breath there, longing for Klaus' scent, the quiet familiarity.

"I wanted to be like that inventor," Violet laughed softly. "Now I think I'm more like mom."

Klaus easily lift her, twirled her a couple of times in the air and she could not help but laugh; she clung to him, her legs around his waist and her arms firmly gripped his neck, and he leaned her against the wall to kiss her...

"No," he said simply. "You are Violet Baudelaire."

He said it again in that way, as if her name were so beautiful; on his lips the name of Violet was transformed, acquiring another meaning that even an excellent definer of words as Klaus Baudelaire might find difficult to explain; she was his world, his world...

The Quagmire house was small and pretty, very similar to Justice Strauss's, and in fact not so far from it. The Baudelaires had been there many times before, and they knew the way of memory; they arrived around lunchtime and just in time for Violet to tie her hair with her ribbon and try to find a way to make the television work.

Isadora pulled out blankets and cushions and set them up in the living room, on the couch and on the floor, and almost got a scare when Sunny hugged her leg.

"Violet made me braids today."

Isadora smiled, lifting the girl.

“They´re so beautiful, Sunny. Do you think your sister will make some for me?”

"Apparently our little imp is uncontrollable today," Klaus extended his hands for Isadora to pass to Sunny, and put her on his shoulders.

"If she bothers Isadora, it´s fine for me," Duncan said. "I declare myself Sunny team."

Isadora stuck out her tongue, but then laughed happily.

"Quigley, you'd better help me bring the dishes, and do not you dare play me jokes this time."

While the two disappeared in the kitchen, Duncan threw himself with all cheekiness on the couch.

"I would not have known how to make that thing work in a million years," he said, "so we owe Violet this afternoon of relaxation."

She smiled, and Klaus noticed that she had also braided her hair, although instead of trying to tie it with a ribbon she had put on an elastic band that came in one of the television cables; she had Beatrice in her lap and was also trying to comb her hair.

"You're welcome, you're welcome," she wanted her tone to sound pompous and cocky, but that was so far removed from her character that everyone noticed and could not help but laugh.

They spent the afternoon watching some movies, stretching from time to time and commenting at the end of each. Although they seemed like a carefree group of young people, Klaus felt a bit of sadness during the last movie, when he took his eyes off the screen and watched them all: the bodies tense, almost expecting to have to flee, and the permanent melancholy in their eyes. Klaus wondered if he would look the same.

When they finished watching the last movie and Quigley turned on the lights, Klaus realized that Violet had fallen asleep. Isadora covered her with a blanket.

"She must be exhausted," Duncan whispered, "better let her sleep."

Klaus frowned, having a sudden thought that subsided in his mind when Bea attracted his attention.

"Can I make Beatrice's bottle in the kitchen?" He asked.

Isadora rolled her eyes in a gesture of obviousness.

"I think you should stop asking for permission to do anything in this house, Klaus."

Klaus smiled shyly at his friends as he set Bea on the couch. While preparing the bottle, Quigley arrived and sat on one of the kitchen chairs.

"Have you found any useful information for the case?" He asked.

Klaus sighed, shaking the bottle slightly.

"The truth is, no, we've been too busy with Sunny and Bea. And Justice has an important case in the High Court, so we have hardly seen him and he can not tell us if she found anything."

Quigley nodded thoughtfully.

"Well, Klaus ... we talk and we think maybe we could take care of Sunny and Bea a day or two every week, so you can focus on the research."

Klaus looked at him. He thought of the idea of being alone with Violet and felt ashamed; their friends wanted to help so that Sunny and Beatrice could stay with them and he could not think of anything other than kissing his sister until the world got older. And he wanted to be able to tell them the truth, but he could not.

"We could not ask for more help than you have already given us."

"No, the truth is that they do not deserve it, they are terrible friends," said Duncan, who came through the door with Isadora. "What do you think, Isadora?"

The girl laughed gracefully.

"Stop, Duncan. He is stubborn, but he will learn. "Klaus felt cornered, suddenly aware of how much he appreciated his friends.

"Now, seriously Klaus, you and Violet have to stop thinking that you must solve everything on your own. We're a little worried here." She put a hand on his shoulder.

Klaus smiled.

"Seriously, you are helping us with the research, we could not ask for more."

Duncan shook his head at his stubbornness.

"Klaus, we adore Sunny and Bea. It could be fun to have them around here."

Quigley and Isadora nodded, and the first one gave Klaus a firm but friendly squeeze on the arm.

"Now you are the only friends and family that we have left in the world, and is not that what friends do?"

Friends do not lie, Klaus thought, or hide secrets. But he looked through the window at his sister's sleeping figure, at so many responsibilities at such an early age, and she looked so tired... he could not help but accept.

Chapter Text

"Everything seems dead and lives.

The shadow is ready

to become light for the one who knows

how slow is always the dawn of an idea!"

-Jaime Torres Bodet, Now.

Klaus would have liked to be able to hold on to that last day of tranquility as salvation to be able to face what was coming. On Tuesday of one of the last weeks of vacation he and Violet took Sunny and Beatrice early to the Quagmire house, and the two had mixed feelings when they turned around and walked down the street, divided between the expectation of being together and alone and the terrible grief that settled in their hearts as they left their little girls behind, even though they knew they would see them later.

Klaus dared to slide his hand into his sister's as they walked towards the rickety tram that would take them back home, and feeling the softness of her skin made him calm down.

"I really hope we find something this time," Violet sighed, "so far we have been lucky, but I feel that it will soon be over."

Klaus hugged her.

"Do not think like that, Vi, everything will be solved." He tried to make his words sound convincing, even a little optimistic. She looked at him and gave him a soft and sad smile. "What's going on? You've been strange these days."

Violet kissed the corner of his lips with sweetness.

"I do not know what's happening to me," they let go of their hands when they entered a busy street, "I've only been so tired and I guess I'm still worried about the girls, and I feel guilty for hiding this from Quigley, Isadora and Duncan..."

They got on the rickety tram and Klaus gave Violet a look. Despite not being able to touch the other she understood that Klaus was comforting her, and she wondered hopefully if he would want to love her later, something in his eyes told her that he did.

However, they spent a quiet morning, with some tea in the room and many difficult books and copies of their parents' testament that they had obtained from the bank. Occasionally, when Klaus took off his glasses for a moment and sighed, Violet would get up and go to where he was sitting to kiss his face; and he did the same for her.
At noon they both put the books aside and leaned back on the sofa, exhausted.
"Klaus," Violet called, "can we have lunch now?"
Her brother nodded, got up from the chair and took her hand to lift it up with a pull.
"I do not know what we'll do without Sunny around here; my culinary skills have become terrible, "Klaus laughed as he walked to the kitchen and looked for some food, “what do you want?"
"Maybe a bit of that mango salad that mom and dad used to do in the summer, remember? Oh, God, I really wish they were here to see how Sunny grew up."
"And to try her dishes," Klaus agreed.
While they cut the mango, they talked a little about the document they had been studying moments before, and Klaus could hear the desperation in his sister's voice. He just wanted to see her so happy and calm... a strange feeling of warmth flooded him when he thought of them. He knew that he would love her forever, always, he wanted to be hers, he wanted to hold her hand as she grew older, to see the light of life and love and innocence every night before making her his.

"It's almost a month until my birthday," Violet said, "and Mr. Poe has not shown up at the door again."

There was hope, there hidden behind fear.

"As soon as you turn eighteen you could ask for custody," said Klaus, and then he was silent for a moment, thoughtful. "But Beatrice... she does not have our blood."

Violet dropped the knife and sighed.

"We could say that she is our daughter, we could say that I conceived her and gave birth while we were on the island."

Klaus denied softly. His sister was terrified enough to think without lucidity.

"We already told Mr. Poe that she is Kit's daughter, and also incest is illegal."

"Mr. Poe will have to shut up," Violet grumbled, and he could see the fury in her eyes a second before she collapsed in his arms. She hid her face in his neck. "I'm sorry Klaus, I'm saying nonsense. I just... I do not know what to do anymore. It seems that everything and everyone who could have helped us vanished in smoke."

He kissed her forehead. And then his lips froze for a moment over her, and she pulled away from the hug to look at him.

"You're thinking of something," she said.

Klaus looked at her.

"It's just that maybe not everything has gone up in smoke," he smiled, "Jerome said there were more survivors of the fire. And Beatrice is not just a Snicket, but also a Denouement. If we were able to find out if Kit and Dewey were married... or if we had evidence that Dewey was his biological father, then his closest living relative could sign the adoption for us."

Violet held on to him, trying to clear her mind.

"Her closest living relative would then be Frank," she said.

"O Ernest," sighed Klaus.

"But we will look for Frank. Klaus! How have we been so forgetful? We met another Snicket! "She was smiling like a crazy, absolutely happy.

"Lemony," his brother whispered. "Vi... do you think they would want to stay with her? I... I do not want to lose her, she's our daughter."

She shook her head and put her hand on Klaus' cheek, loving always.

"We will explain everything to Frank or Lemony, Klaus. I think them... I think they will respect Kit's will. And if they do not... ", she looked at him with so much love that it hurt.

"I've also thought about it," Klaus kissed her long, as if she could vanish at any moment. "Go back to the island, or get away from here."

"Maybe it's the only place," she sighed, "maybe you and I could even..."

The noise of the paper falling on the corridor of the hall interrupted them, and Klaus hurried to pick up an envelope that had slid across the floor. When he got to where Violet was, she noticed that he was shaking a little and felt her heart fill with fear. Then, when he showed her the paper, she felt the world vanish around her.

I will take the girls.

And below, in another paper, there was another note. Violet and Klaus could not have said which of the two terrified them more.

I know your secret.

When Quigley opened the door of the apartment, almost ten minutes later, Violet and Klaus were still petrified; they were sitting in the armchair and Violet clutched Klaus's hand tightly. Only the sound of Isadora's voice calling them brought them out of their reverie.

"Vi," Sunny's voice cut through the air with a shriek, and Violet forced herself to get up and picked up her little sister with ease.

"We did not wait for you until night," Klaus commented, taking Bea from Duncan's arms. "Everything is alright?"

The triplets looked at each other seriously.

"A V.F.D agent showed up at home a moment ago," Quigley finally said. "They wanted us to formally join the organization."

"Was he Jerome Squalor?" Violet asked.

They had hardly thought of Jerome's proposal since the masquerade. Everything seemed so easy and safe like this, without secrets, that to think about putting themselves in danger with their two little girls waiting for them at home was like becoming their parents.

"It was not Jerome," Sunny interrupted cheerfully. "Unknown"

Isadora dropped into the chair, and Violet could see a little anguish in her.

"Jacob Schleiden," she said, "his name was Jacob Schleiden. We were part of V.F.D for... the last few days, before Kit died, but then we just wanted to be safe. And after everything that happened, I do not know if V.F.D is really a noble organization."

Klaus nodded.

"We know what you want to say. You can not be entirely noble, can you? The world is much more complicated than that. But I wonder... Jerome said that the organization had been about to dissolve after the fire; if they needed so many new members, why wait until now to look for them? There is something that does not make sense."

Quigley sat next to his sister, while Duncan held Beatrice back so that Klaus could go to the kitchen for glasses of water.

"That's what we think. We have also been thinking about the country house. Why our parents never mentioned it, or why they never took us there? They could have said they were old friends, but they decided to keep the secret, "Duncan said.

"It's not even in the will. It's as if they just wanted it to disappear. Which makes us think there's something there that they wanted to hide, "Isadora sat up, taking one of the glasses Klaus offered," Baudelaire friends, we want to go back to the house and find out on our own. We no longer trust V.F.D."

Violet looked at Klaus, the two communicating in their own way. Then he nodded and Violet squeezed the paper between her fingers.

"Summer is not over yet. Klaus and I have saved a little money and in a month I can claim fortune ... maybe we could go to live in the country house for a few days. We... we're not safe here, "she extended the paper to Isadora, or at least just one of them; the other was stored in Klaus's pocket. "We just received this. Someone wants to hurt us, and they know that the best way to do it is through Sunny and Bea. Klaus and I must protect them, "she did not want her voice to sound so broken, but it did. Tears stung behind her eyes and she felt suddenly dizzy. She just wanted to be safe, raise their girls happily. She could not believe they had to flee again.

The dizziness did not dissipate and she lost concentration for a second until she only knew that Quigley was helping her to stabilize and that Klaus was looking at her absolutely worried.

"Vi, are you okay?"

She nodded.

"Yeah, it's just that we did not eat that mango salad and I have not really eaten much lately."

Isadora guided her carefully to the table while Klaus and Sunny brought the salad. Sunny raised her hands so that Violet lifted her up and when she was in her lap she hugged her tightly. Violet could tell that she was afraid, but she was an extraordinarily brave girl.

The matter was terminated; they would have a lunch and then they would go to the Quagmire house so they could pack their bags and take some money, and then they would go in the van to the country house. But Klaus was still worried about Violet's health and the note hidden in his pocket.

Beatrice was restless on the road, sleeping at times on Violet's lap and waking up to call Violet or Klaus, and apparently the Quagmires were not shocked when they heard the "mom" and "dad" come out of her little lips, but they could not help but look each time she did.

Violet had taken from her crib some blankets and the chain of bells that Klaus had bought for Bea, because the girl was in a stage where she would not sleep if she was not lulled by the crystal sound of the bells. She hugged Beatrice against her body, silently promising that she would always take care of her.

When they arrived at the country house the sun had sprinkled orange and purple tones in the sky and it was a good time to light the porch lights and light a small fire outside. The feeling of fear and regret left Klaus and Violet for a moment, and they allowed themselves to feel a little safe with their friends there.

"I'm exhausted," Isadora said finally, "I'm going to bed. Goodnight."

And the others followed her, but in the middle of the night Violet found herself restless. The house was so big that everyone could have their own room, and Klaus and Violet had not been able to find an excuse to sleep together. She missed him; his smell, his intelligent presence under the sheets with her. And it was ridiculous, because he was only in the other room, but she could not close her eyes without feeling afraid.

She got up carefully; the moonlight illuminated a little and the wind that came through the mosquito net of the window cooled the room and made waves in her nightgown. She had to calm down, she knew, but it was almost impossible.

First she gently opened the door to Sunny and Bea's room, and her heart calmed a little as she watched them sleep softly, the vision so peaceful that she stood there until she felt Klaus's familiar warmth and then his hand slipped over her shoulder, under the fabric.

"I can not sleep without you either," he whispered.

She turned to look at him.

"Klaus, I'm scared."

Violet was lost in his eyes, in the look she knew better than any other. She could still remember two little children doing scientific research in the garden under the supervision of their parents, she could even remember how restless they had felt when their mother went to the hospital for Sunny to be born. And they had stayed at home, feeling excitement and reading to the other to calm down.

Klaus was so wonderful, so absolutely wonderful that he left Violet breathless. And she knew again that they had always been destined, that they were meant to be the complement of the other; she loved her parents more than ever at that time. Despite leaving, they had not left them alone... would they have known even before that their children would love each other in this way?

"Shh, everything will be fine," he hugged her against his body, inhaling her scent. His Violet...

"I do not want to think," her voice broke, her soft breath on his neck made Klaus want to kiss her until he died in her, "just take it, you can take the fear, right?"

They were pretty sure everyone was asleep at the moment, but a rush of adrenaline ran through Violet's body as he pinned her against the wall and kissed her longingly and deeply.

Violet felt Klaus's hands running through her, memorizing her always, and made her feel so alive and loved. She tangled her hands in his hair, pulling him closer to her, her hips already anxious.

Then he took her hand and led her through the night, down the stairs and out, and Violet was not afraid.

The night was warm but a light breeze was blowing. It reminded her of other nights on the island, when neither Klaus nor Violet could sleep and they sat on the sand, telling each other things they remembered from their childhood as if they feared that if they kept them to themselves they would also vanish, washed by the waves from sea. Back in the city they had left that custom aside, too exhausted from work, too frightened by responsibilities, but now they were among the trees and there were fireflies fluttering over them.

Klaus kissed her again, thirsty, and she allowed herself to moan in his mouth. There they did not have to avoid the sound and she wanted him to know what he was doing to her, what made her.

"Violet, I love you, I love you, I love you", he wanted to show her, to show her that he belonged to her always, from the day of his birth.

Violet also loved their pain, it was part of them now.

Klaus made love to her, he thrust her slowly until they both shouted softly, wanting to take away all the evil of the world, wanting to leave only tenderness and love, the heartrending need.

Chapter Text

They were still together in the thickets when a sudden sound startled them. Violet, who had been dozing in the arms of a sleepless Klaus, sat up quickly. They were dressed in their sleepwear, but Violet's light nightgown was wrinkled and a wayward strap kept slipping off her shoulder. However, her long hair was tangled and her lips were swollen; red cheeks would have been the ultimate telltale sign if someone had actually stumbled upon them there in the garden, in the dark of the night.

Klaus had sat up as well.

—Did you hear that? —his sister whispered, now fully awake.

—Yes.

They fell silent, watching what the moonlight allowed them to see, the flickering shadows of the tall trees and the house itself, and for a second Violet was struck by the devastating thought that the ghosts of their parents were somehow in that house, watching them. A lump formed in her throat, but then she looked at Klaus, who was adjusting his glasses, and thought of what he would surely say. Ghosts didn't exist.

At least, not those of the dead.

They knew, though, that someone had been following them, stalking them, and they didn't know who. They had run away from home in the hope of losing them, and now it felt like setting out again.

"It could have been an animal," she said, trying to convince herself.

Klaus gave her hand a gentle squeeze and helped her up.

"We'd better go inside," he said quietly, "we might be taking too much of a risk. Anyone could look through the windows."

Quigley, Duncan, Isadora.

Sunny.

Even though she knew now that they loved each other, there were some things she couldn't understand until she was older. Violet wondered then if she would still see them in that loving way, when she realized what society really thought of people like them. If there was, if they weren't really a couple of unfortunate humans alone in the world.

But she never wanted to think that it was monstrous to love Klaus anymore. Much less after how he had made her feel a few moments before, how he made her feel safe all the time. Violet thought that if she had to embrace her own monstrosity, she would.

Klaus's hand wrapped around hers was warm and not at all uncomfortable. They opened the door silently, climbed the stairs to their rooms, and kissed each other goodbye with a deep, desperate kiss. People usually assume, unless they're in a sad state of depression, or in a dangerous place, that they'll see their loved ones the next morning without any problems. But Klaus and Violet had grown up marveling at seeing one more morning, safe and sound, with Sunny. Alive. One more morning without falling into Olaf's clutches was all they ever aspired to. So the goodnight kisses weren't sleepy and vague, but deep and desperate.

Klaus waited until Violet closed the door behind her in her room, and then headed to his own. He couldn't sleep, thinking about the letters, about VFD, about the Quagmires, and about his girls. Later that night, Klaus heard a bedroom door close, but when he went out into the hallway to take a look, he couldn't see anyone.

Violet woke up feeling nauseous. Probably due to the stress of the last few days, with the threatening letters and her birthday getting closer, she was at her limit. This was evident in the morning when she was forced to rush out of bed and run to the bathroom in her room to empty her stomach.

It was a terrible feeling, especially since it was accompanied by dizziness. She had to start breathing deeply to calm herself, sitting on the bathroom floor, until the discomfort passed. She stayed there for a while longer, expectant. However, she had no signs of fever, or flu, not even a stomach ache.

“It’s just stress,” she told herself out loud. She sat up, brushed her teeth thoroughly, and showered before getting dressed. It was still fairly early, but she knew Sunny or Bea would be up soon and might feel strange waking up in an unfamiliar place. The sky was just beginning to lighten, though still sunless, with the morning star shining brightly.

The house was still quiet when she left the room to check on the girls. Sunny was still asleep, but Bea had woken up and was restless, so Violet tucked her in nicely, settled her in her arms, and went downstairs to the library, where she probably wouldn’t disturb anyone by singing the little girl to sleep.

There was a moment of peace, as she cradled Bea and looked out at the unfamiliar space that their parents and Mr. and Mrs. Quagmire had painstakingly filled with books, the similarity this place bore to the old library in her home was disconcerting, though there were elements Violet didn't recognize and assumed were the things the Quagmires had added.

Yet she still felt like she had traveled back in time in some way. Bea brought her back to reality with a demanding squeal, she wanted to hear Violet and she gave her that satisfaction.

Singing to Bea, she allowed herself to wander in front of the book shelves, looking at the titles. And then the library door opened.

Quigley peeked timidly, raising his fist beside the door, as if he had knocked before entering. Violet hadn't heard him.

“I heard a noise and wanted to know if everything was okay,” he said apologetically. He walked in, looking at the impressive library with interest. “Isn’t it strange to be so close to them?”

Violet nodded, smiling wistfully.

“It is,” she admitted. “The desk is practically the same as the one in our parents’ library. And that clock… I always thought it belonged to Grandpa. They probably didn’t want to reveal its true origin.”

Bitterness and sadness had crept into her voice without her realizing it, and Bea pressed her small hand against Violet’s neck, dissatisfied.

“I know what you mean,” Quigley agreed, “now it’s like I never really knew who they were.”

Violet laughed halfheartedly.

“On ​​the island we found their journal,” she told him, “Klaus and I thought we’d finally find all the answers there. We thought… it just left us with so many more questions. I guess such a mysterious story can’t fit into one book, right? But one thing we do know. Our parents and yours were great friends, they never betrayed each other. Not even for noble reasons.”

Quigley nodded. He had leaned back on the desk to talk to Violet comfortably.

“It’s a relief to know,” he said, sighing. “I still don’t fully understand VFD. Much less after what happened before Olaf died.”

“I don’t trust them,” Violet said, “not even Jerome. I know he means well, but…”

At that moment she had to hand the baby to Quigley. He picked her up without question, although half-frightened when he saw Violet running out of the library with her hand over her mouth. He followed her, dismayed. The sun had risen and noise was beginning to be heard in the house, Isadora was in the kitchen and Klaus was coming down the stairs. Violet had to run across the house to get to the bathroom.

She emptied her stomach again. Klaus quickly ran to her side to push her hair away and hold her, as she had begun to tremble.

—Violet, what's wrong?

Isadora had also come closer, scared.

—Are you okay, Violet? Quigley, go get a glass of water, will you?

Violet snuggled up to Klaus, her heart beating rapidly.

—Could you take me upstairs, Klaus? I'm dizzy.

Quigley came back with the glass of water, which Violet gladly accepted. Klaus frowned.

“What happened?”

“I must be sick or something,” Violet said, “I woke up feeling nauseous this morning… it must be the stress, right? Bea, where’s Bea? Quigley…”

Klaus looked around at the others, searching for their little girl. Isadora held her securely.

“There she is, still asleep,” she assured her. “Go on, Klaus, take her to rest. Quigley and I will take care of Bea and Sunny.”

Klaus picked Violet up and held her cradled against his chest as he climbed the stairs. She wrapped her arms around his neck and inhaled deeply of his scent. That seemed to settle her stomach, because the unpleasant feeling disappeared from the back of her throat and when he set her down on the bed, she felt much better.

“I think it’s gone,” she told him, “I should go see the girls.”

“You need to rest,” Klaus said, determined, “and you need to tell me exactly what happened.”

He looked apprehensive, so she looked at him in dismay.

“It was just nausea,” she tried to reassure him, “Klaus…”

But he looked really uneasy at her, and Violet started to feel nervous. He sat up in bed with his hands on his glasses, his elbows resting on his knees, and he even looked slightly shaky. Then he looked angry, but his anger wasn’t directed at Violet. She sat up and held his hands in hers, making him look at her.

“Vi,” Klaus said, very quietly, “when was the last time you got your period?”

Chapter Text

Violet sat down on the edge of the bed cautiously. Klaus was avoiding her gaze and looked distressed, but she noticed the rising sun streaming through the bedroom window, its rays warming her skin. Carefully, as if she didn't know exactly what she was doing, she briefly touched the bottom of her stomach. It made sense, all the sense in the world. And she didn't need to give Klaus an answer for him to know; she had a late period that they hadn't realized because of all the stress they'd been under the last few weeks.

"We were careless," Klaus said, and there was something in his voice that made it all real in a moment, "I didn't protect you..."

"Klaus..."

"I should have known better about it. And now you're in danger because of me..."

“Klaus”.

But there was also something in Violet's voice that made him stop repeating his tortured monologue. When he looked at her, he was surprised to find a kind of light in her face that hadn't been there before. She wasn't smiling, but she didn't seem upset or scared either. She looked at him with bewilderment.

“It's okay,” she told him, “it's more than okay.”

She had blushed, just like the first time he kissed her. She felt something fluttering in her stomach and this time it wasn't nausea.

They had been parents to two beautiful girls for longer tan they could remember, ones they adored with all their hearts and were willing to give their lives or kill for. But this was different.

It was Klaus's, it was Violet's.

He shook his head, miserably.

"I'm not scared of fatherhood," Klaus said, and he sounded very sure about it. "But it's dangerous, Violet. There could be complications because... because we're siblings."

Violet was silent. She didn't really have much information on the subject, for though she had been a curious child, what she usually read was more related to her own topics of interest. She remembered her mother explaining her period to her before the fire happened, the first time she had it, but she hadn't explained anything further about reproduction. It wasn't time yet, and then tragedy and Olaf came into their lives, and she had been more concerned with learning about other things. But of course, Klaus was a reader. He had read the terms incest and inbreeding in some works, both scientific and literary, and he had read more about reproduction than Violet.

"What kind of... complications?" she asked bluntly.

She had never felt ashamed of having to ask her brother to explain something to her, and this time was no exception. However, she did feel uneasy about Klaus's answer. Now that she knew she was carrying... that she was carrying her brother's child, her Klaus's, she felt she had to protect that baby at all costs.

"Diseases, those kinds of complications."

A lump grew in her throat.

"How likely is that?"

Klaus exhaled sadly.

“It depends. I’ve read that the odds increase by about 25%. And you, Violet… it could be a risky pregnancy for you.”

She stood up confidently, suddenly filled with determination.

“Everything is going to be okay,” she told Klaus. She walked over to him and placed a hand on his cheek. “I know it’s an unusual situation, but we won’t love this baby any less if it’s different, right?”

“True,” Klaus admitted.

“And we’re not first-time parents. We’ve done a good job with the girls. And I’m not going anywhere, you hear me?”

And I’m willing to go through whatever it takes to have this family with you, Klaus. You, me, Sunny, Bea, and this baby on the way.

Klaus relaxed his shoulders. He saw in Violet’s eyes a determination that had kept them alive countless times. And then he saw her hand, still resting on her belly. He’d done this to his sister, and yet…

His fingers found Violet's face and he pulled her to him. Violet had always been his beacon of hope in the storm, she had never faded. And he loved her desperately. The kiss was filled with the same sense of hunger he remembered from the old days, when they were on the run. And ruin and a light that came through the broken cracks of what they were. Violet tangled in him like a plant clinging to the height of the sky. Klaus held her tenderly, her long hair tangled beneath his eager hands and the vertigo in his stomach awakening again.

Violet suddenly pulled away and Klaus tried to hold on to the kiss for a few more seconds, desperate.

“I’m sorry,” she said in a whisper, and gave him a quick kiss that only made the hunger in him, the fire he so feared, grow, “I just remembered something. Someone could come any second, Klaus.”

Of course, she was right. He reluctantly let her go.

“We will tell Sunny and Bea, but not yet,” Violet said.

However, the newfound closeness of their former friends made things more complicated. That became clear when there was a knock on the door and Quigley’s voice came from the hallway. Thankfully, they were no longer intertwined, but Violet still fixed her hair before saying, “Come in!”

The door opened timidly and Quigley peeked in, bringing Sunny with him.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized, “she’s worried. And so are we, should we call a doctor?”

Violet shook her head. Sunny had run over to her as soon as she saw her and Violet took her in her arms. Klaus looked apprehensive. Quigley wondered what was going on, though he didn’t want to press his friends with questions. He waited for an answer, which came from Klaus because Violet was talking quietly to her little sister.

“No need” he assured “we know what happens to Violet. And she will be fine. But thanks for taking care of Sunny, I should go see Bea right now. Vi, will you be okay?”

“We will be down in a moment” she answered, “I am fine. I am perfectly fine”.

“And breakfast is ready” Sunny added.

“That is perfect, because I am very hungry”.

Klaus looked at them there together before he left. Life had changed when Bea had arrived, he remembered. It had all been so abrupt and fast, and before they knew it they were alone with a newborn on a remote island, with no idea what to do or how to do it. But they had adjusted, and now they couldn't imagine their family without Beatrice. It would be like that with this baby, he was sure. Even if things changed, it didn't change the deep love Klaus felt for his family. The thought kept him calm as he pretended he hadn't just received one of the most important news of his entire life.

By the time Violet joined the others at breakfast, explaining that she was experiencing symptoms of stress, she was calmer, though there was an emotion inside her that she couldn't quiet no matter how hard she tried, and the truth was that she didn't want to. Her body felt like it wasn't the same, and at the same time it felt so familiar. She avoided looking at Klaus because she knew she couldn't keep calm doing so, she knew that all that emotion would undoubtedly spill out of her gaze. She couldn't help it. Klaus was everything to her. Him and Sunny and Bea and...

However, they had come to that property to investigate, in addition to spending a weekend with their best friends and away from the city, which reminded her of the threatening letters.

Sometimes, Violet felt like the world was falling on top of them and that the misfortunes that had begun with the fire in their home, so many years before, continued to scream their echoes over her. But then she remembered that she had Klaus, and she knew that no scream or echo would be enough to bring them down.

At noon, they all headed to the library, ready to face the investigation. Klaus left Sunny and Beatrice on a blanket near the reading couch, and the others set out to examine the library. They were looking for answers, although they didn't yet know exactly what questions.

"We should start with everything that isn't obvious," Duncan said. "There must be hiding places. It would be so typical of them."

The others couldn't argue with him. They set about thoroughly examining every space, from the elegant, fine-wood desk at the back of the room to the highest, most unreachable shelves filled with books. Isadora couldn't help but be drawn to the poetry section, while Violet gave Sunny a cookbook to keep her busy; she found herself heading toward the engineering section, while Klaus examined the language books and Quigley took care of the desk. Duncan, meanwhile, took notes in one of his research notebooks.

Although the five of them spent many hours discovering texts and wonderful things, they found no secret doors, no safe deposit boxes, no locked drawers. They told themselves that there had to be something, anything that could truly give them answers, and they would have continued their search if Bea hadn't started crying.

Klaus, who was standing at the top of a library ladder, immediately came down; Violet, who had been examining the clock, also turned her full attention to Beatrice and Sunny.

“We’re tired,” said Sunny, who was usually very patient. However, it was true that they had spent several hours in the library. “Bea wants to play.”

“They’re right,” Klaus agreed. “We’ve spent a lot of time searching, even we should take a little break.”

“And it’s been a real disappointment,” said Isadora.

Duncan agreed.

“Not quite,” Quigley said then, and everyone in the room turned to look at him. He had been silent, scanning the lower sections of the bookshelf, and was crouching low. His hand was on a book, a green tome down in the far corner of the ornate library. He held his breath as he made the move to pull it out of its place, and there was a click. Then the entire bookcase began to shake, sinking inward, and it was visible to everyone, where it joined another bookcase, that a door had opened.

Chapter Text

"What are we waiting, sister

from this dawn that tires us so much?"

-Efraín Huerta, star in the highs. 

After their discovery in the library it seemed that Quigley had not only discovered their parents' secrets, but also gave the impression that he had opened a door that would be extremely difficult to close, one through which all those things that had remained hidden were seeping out, and as the secrets began to slip out everywhere, Klaus' and Violet's suddenly found themselves rushing out into the warm touch of sunlight.

“Klaus?” the voice of Violet followed him into the bushes, away from the house, where everyone was trying not to let the weight of the truth bring them down. During the year they had lived on the island they had understood many things. They knew that their parents had been members of V.F.D., they knew what the organization did and the names of many of the friends their parents had made there. And yet there had been a missing piece.

She finally arrived at his side, her long hair fluttering in the summer breeze. Klaus couldn't help but cling to Violet. Only she was transparent in a world obscured by smoke, only she was sunlight and crystal clear water.

And Sunny and Bea, of course.

“Are we turning into them, Vi?” he whispered, wrapped in her arms. Warm and motherly; sister, lover. All of her was a jumble of names and words he would never have thought to utter in one name. “We're forming our own treasure trove of hidden truths, don't you think?”

Violet didn't let him go. Klaus smelled her neck, fresh and flower-like and somewhat salty. She wasn't pristine, but everything about her was precious and good.

“It's different,” he told her, ”we're surviving, and there are people we have to protect...”

“They thought the same thing about us,” Klaus pointed out. “They thought they were protecting us.”

Violet let him go a little, barely enough to look at him.

“I know what you're thinking,” she told him, ”you think if we become them, we won't really be able to protect Sunny either, and Bea, and...”

Klaus said nothing. The news that morning still had him giddy, torn between extreme worry, guilt and excitement. He slid a hand over Violet's dress.

“I just don't want to lose you all,” he whispered. The frame of his glasses clicked a little on Violet's cheek and still she longed to be able to hold Klaus closer, “if losing all of you is the price for secrets...”

“It's okay,” Violet reassured him. “We'll be different from them. No more secrets, okay?”.

Klaus nodded. He sought her mouth, desolated. Kisses with Violet always had something of tragedy, but Klaus needed them like he needed air and books to live.

Quigley and Isadora were not in the library when Klaus and Violet slipped into the house, only Duncan was with Sunny and Beatrice. Violet's fingers danced close to Klaus's hand, never quite intertwining.

“Isadora needed a moment,” Duncan replied to the Baudelaires' quiet question, ”and Quigley wants to confirm some facts from his research.”

Klaus nodded.

“Thank you for looking after the girls. I... I guess we all need to process it. So do you.”

The boy nodded, his gaze far away and his face slightly expressionless. Without another word, he said goodbye to Sunny and passed Bea into Violet's arms, and left the library.

“Klaus,” called Sunny, who looked distressed.

“Come here, Sun,” he told her, his arms open to wrap her in a tight, protective embrace. “It's all right. None of this can ever hurt us anymore, okay? Trust that Vi and I are going to take care of you, always.”

Sunny nodded, buried in the warmth of her brother's chest. Klaus carried her like when she was just barely a baby, thinking of all the terrible things they had saved her from before. This one had to be added to the list, because neither Violet nor he was willing to let anything, not V.F.D., not Olaf, not even their parents' secrets, or their own, hurt her.

Violet stroked Sunny’s hair gently, looked at Klaus and the agreement they had made echoed in her heart.

“Sunny,” she began, ”we have something to tell you.”

The library seemed silent and empty, and Klaus suddenly thought that he didn't want Sunny to know about the baby there. That had to be news she could digest in the right way, asking all the questions she needed to.

“How about we go up to the room and talk about it?” he interrupted softly. Sunny looked from Violet to him curiously, her blonde hair falling over her shoulders. Bea fidgeted in Violet’s arms.

He set his little sister down on the floor, giving her his hand to walk with him. And silently, the four Baudelaires climbed the stairs of the huge house. The sun was still streaming in, but the whiteness made it feel too blinding. They made their way to the room where the little girls were staying, and Klaus carefully closed the door. Sunny had sat on the edge of the bed, while Violet remained standing. She made a nest of blankets to place Beatrice next to Sunny, and quickly found Klaus’ hand with her own. She wasn’t going to deny that this made her nervous.

“What’s the matter?”

“So,” Klaus began, adjusting his glasses and sitting next to Sunny. “We found out something this morning.”

Violet put a hand on her belly, suddenly remembering how their parents had given her and Klaus the news that they were having a sister, what seemed like an eternity ago. And a curious tingle ran through her skin, feeling on her mother’s skin, like she wasn’t herself at the same time that she was. It made her dizzy to see Sunny’s expectant eyes.

“Violet is pregnant,” Klaus said, finding the words for her. “Which means you and Bea are going to have a brother or sister”.

Sunny’s small mouth opened in a perfect o. Her legs kicked in the air, Klaus couldn’t tell if it was from excitement or eagerness.

“How?” she asked.

Violet turned bright red, but Klaus endured the awkwardness of the question and answered with composure.

“Well,” he began. “That’s something you’ll know when you’re older, but now she and I will be mother and father to you, to Bea, and to the new baby”.

“When?” Sunny asked, her eyes shining brightly.

Violet laughed softly, tears springing to her cheeks. She wiped her face with the back of her hand.

“In a few months,” she replied. And she couldn’t help it, the urge to hug her sister. “Oh, Sunny. Look how big you are now, but you’ll always be our baby, okay? You’ll always be...”

More than a sister. More than a responsibility they had to take on when they were still just kids themselves. Sunny was their heart, their pride. One of the greatest loves of their lives.

The reason they hadn’t let themselves be captured by Olaf, the reason they had taken one step and then another even though they couldn’t feel their feet.

“I know, Violet,” she replied, hugging her sister with a mischievous smile. “But will he or she be able to play with Bea and me?”

Klaus nodded, smiling.

“In a few years, of course.”

“We wanted to tell you because we swore not to keep secrets,” Violet said. “But no one else knows yet. We have to wait a little while, just a few days, before we tell our friends.”

Her sister nodded, putting a finger on her lips as a promise of confidentiality. Then Beatrice woke up, and they were together until lunchtime approached and Sunny insisted on making snacks for everyone. She wanted to cheer them up, so Klaus and Violet agreed. They went downstairs with Sunny jumping around excitedly, but when she got to work, silently, Violet and Klaus sat close together where they could keep an eye on her, while Klaus bounced Beatrice on his knee because the girl looked like she wanted to play. He had to talk to Violet and there was no way to put it off. There were so many things to sort out…

“The library thing,” he began, speaking so quietly that only she could hear him. Violet held one of Beatrice’s small hands as she bounced in Klaus’ arms, “It confirms what we thought, doesn’t it?”

“When we left the island we decided to leave V.F.D. out of our lives too,” Violet agreed. “And we didn’t have any problems in the city, until Mr. Poe found us. I should never have made that request at the bank.”

Klaus adjusted his glasses.

“We needed to clear our names,” he sighed. “Giving Sunny and Bea a life of lies and hiding didn’t sound like a good plan… and look at us now.”

Violet inhaled and exhaled deeply.

“That’s about over, so we need to find answers.”

Then she pulled out her long ribbon and Klaus knew that they would fit all the pieces of the puzzle together once and for all. Violet tied her hair, closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them, he could see in her gaze her brilliant mind at work, a spark of wit that was hard to extinguish and that was full of decisive will.

“How Mr. Poe found us is obvious. It was by the bank. But we expected it, more or less. What was unexpected was seeing all those signs, so obvious, of a world we were moving away from: the watch, the letters, the invitation to the party. Some seem friendly and others, clear threats. Jerome said, at the party...”

Klaus understood where his sister's train of thought was going.

“He said that V.F.D. needed new recruits, right? But... he also mentioned that although both sides lost people, two of the Count's old accomplices had fled. Do you think the threats were from them?”

Violet shook her head softly, but she didn’t seem sure.

“They needed Olaf to act,” she said. “And yet, I wonder…”

“Who knew Kit had left Bea in our care? The letter said girls, plural.”

They watched Sunny prepare all of her ingredients with ease. It was amazing how fast she grew, and how talented she was. Even though they weren’t clear on their ideas yet, Klaus forced himself to think. He couldn’t let Sunny be taken away from him. Never. He would do anything. He would run away with them, change his name, anything to stay with his family.

“I don’t know who knew Kit left Bea with us,” Violet said. “But I know someone who might have guessed. Because she knew Olaf before, and if Kit and Olaf… if they ever… Anyway. Do you remember Esmé and Olaf arguing at the hotel, do you remember them breaking up? And she knew him before, way back when they were young.”

That barely made sense. They didn’t even know if Esmé knew Kit was pregnant. But she had resources, and she could have used them to investigate. She could have come to a conclusion. Esmé was used to getting everything she wanted, and she had coveted the Baudelaire and Quagmire fortunes with a vengeance, but not only that. Her ego must have been hurt by that fight with Count Olaf, only to find herself without a fortune, without a husband, without a boyfriend, without anything. And Klaus knew Esmé was cruel, almost without motive. Revenge out of pure spite sounded a lot like her style.

“She would be cruel enough to only want to hurt,” Klaus agreed.

“And she had a motivation to hurt us,” Violet whispered, remembering the new information that had been added to their knowledge. “What our parents did to her, all those years ago…”

Klaus lowered his gaze.

“That’s why she was so angry, wasn’t it, Vi?” He could feel a shiver as he remembered all those nights running away from the Count and Esmé. “We deserved it.”

She leaned on his shoulder, holding his hand lovingly.

“No, Klaus,” she said softly, wishing she could comfort him. “We were kids. And you know Father and Mother regretted it. They didn’t know that not everything is black and white back then. They were so young. They just thought they were doing the best.”

“The fact that they realized it later doesn’t make me feel any better,” he confessed, turning his head slightly to place a kiss on Violet’s soft, cool hair.

“I know,” she said. Then she seemed to realize something. “If Esmé wanted to, she could pull strings at the bank. Poe is so easy to fool, and she has all those contacts from being a financial advisor, you know.”

“That way she could have found out information,” Klaus finished. “Not just where you work, but our home address and…”

“Everything, Klaus.” She looked at him, filled with sad unease. “Then she could have sent the threatening letters.”

If it was really Esmé who had been harassing them, Violet and Klaus suddenly knew that the danger they were in was greater, much greater. They weren’t safe here, or anywhere else. She liked to play around a bit before she made the move, but it could happen at any minute.

“We need to talk to Mr. Poe,” Violet said. “Find out who gave him the idea of the adoption for Sunny and Bea.”

They had to tell Justice Strauss all of this, and their friends. There was so much they had to tell Quigley, Isadora, and Duncan, and everything in their hearts was screaming for them to do it. The secrets were becoming too heavy, too painful to carry. But they were the only friends they had, and there had been a time when Violet had been attracted to Quigley, and Klaus to Isadora. Since they had met again, no one had brought it up, but it was something that hung in the room.

Klaus held Violet’s hand, firmly. He seemed to have read her thoughts.

“It’s time, Vi,” he told her. “They’ve done so much for us. We can’t pay for it with lies.”

And she didn’t want to lie anymore.

It was as if time was pushing them forward, forcing them to move. At lunchtime, when Sunny announced that the snack was ready, everyone gathered in the dining room. The Quagmires seemed to have had enough time to process what they had discovered in the library that morning. And although discouraged, they seemed less immersed in themselves.

Violet barely touched her lunch, suddenly overcome by unexpected nausea.

“Are you feeling sick, Violet?” Sunny asked innocently, looking at her practically full plate.

That question caught Isadora’s interest.

“I think we should go back to the city,” she said, “and take you to a doctor”.

Klaus looked at his sister regretfully, thinking of all the discomfort she must be feeling right now and how he had the fault. He quickly took the plate from her, even though she must be very hungry.

“Yes, we should go back to the city,” he agreed. “But first we should talk. About… several things”.

Quigley sighed.

“None of us liked finding out that our parents were capable of betraying in that way someone, right?” he asked. “Not even those horrible people. Because… well, at that time they were their friends.”

“It’s terrible and unthinkable,” Isadora agreed. “But they were so young, and they believed that everything V.F.D. did would be noble. Still… maybe it’s so hard because in our minds they were always perfect.”

That was true. Like any normal child, they had occasionally argued with their parents, but what they had learned from them was a moral rectitude that was practically implacable.

“I hate their secrets,” Duncan admitted. “If only they had told us…”

Violet looked at Klaus.

“Secrets are terrible,” she agreed. “For the one who finds them, and for the one who keeps them. That’s why we have to tell you something, because we don’t want to have secrets, like they did.”

Quigley looked at them with interest, inquisitive, as did Isadora. However, Duncan seemed more like he was waiting for what was about to happen.

“You can tell us anything, friends,” Isadora said warmly.

Klaus, however, felt his heart beating inside his chest so hard it could make him deaf. Violet was just as nervous. What they were about to confess was as bad as a crime.

In the eyes of others, it filled their souls with ash and rot. It could drive her friends away. Klaus could already imagine their horrified expressions, because what else could happen? They were siblings, siblings. Their love for each other had been born out of nights that were too cold, where they stayed awake, waiting, ready to run away. It had been born out of the beauty of Violet's crying, out of the dirt on their too-small clothes. Out of Klaus's desperate grip on his sister's hand.

It was a love born out of hopelessness, because they had to invent something to place the little faith they had left in.

It was the last event in that series of unfortunate events that could not culminate in anything other than the tragedy of two siblings in love.

And yet, it was the brightest thing they had. It was the clear light of dawn and a kind of broken consolation.

And it had also been born out of the few laughs shared amidst the anguish, out of the warmth of each other's bodies as they huddled together while runing away.

“Klaus and I are in love with each other”, Violet said, still looking into Klaus' eyes. And the infinite painful love that he saw there broke his soul. “And I am pregnant.”

Chapter Text

For a moment, no one said anything. The sharp silence was shattered like sudden, broken glass by the cry of Beatrice, who was in Klaus’s arms but had begun sniffing Violet’s way.

He handed her to his sister, ignoring the deafening silence in his ears, throbbing with the need to hear anything, a scream, a reproach, something coming from the mouths of his friends. Violet had grown just as tense as he had, settling Beatrice into her arms the way he recognized she had held Sunny whenever they felt threatened. Resolutely against her chest, one hand encircling her head, the other arm holding the child as if she could pull her inside herself.

“Well,” Quigley said at last, his voice hoarse. “I don’t really know what to say.”

“I suspected as much, actually,” Duncan said, not exactly calm but not as utterly stunned as Isadora and Quigley.

“Why?” Isadora finally said, sounding a little broken. Violet looked down, suddenly embarrassed.

“It just happened,” Klaus said, aware of how stupid he sounded but unable to say anything else. “We’ve been parents to these girls longer than their own parents. I think somewhere along the line…”

Isadora shook her head, too stunned to say anything else. However, both Violet and Klaus believed her question was both valid and necessary for them to understand. They had wondered that for a while, too, and though they didn’t have a concrete answer, they believed that part of being honest involved trying to find one.

“We were always… weird,” Violet said at last, looking at her friends. “Since before the fire. Before Sunny. Before Olaf. When our parents were alive, we didn’t want to hang out outside with the other kids. Klaus and I always wanted to be safe in the library, keeping each other company. We were always best friends.”

Klaus looked at her, shocked to realize she was right. They couldn’t entirely blame Olaf for this, not when they had always been like this.

“However,” she continued, “when we lost our parents and had the responsibility of protecting Sunny, there was no escape. I can’t tell you why, Isadora. I can tell you that we tried to avoid it, that we came to hate ourselves for it… and in the end we accepted it. Because not doing so was like not breathing.”

Isadora looked away, embarrassed by the intensity of Violet’s gaze at Klaus, openly longing and tender at the same time.

“We can’t entirely blame Olaf for this,” Klaus admitted.

“Of course not. If it had been entirely his fault, you’d have me snogging Quigley,” Duncan tried to joke, but no one laughed.

“Maybe he only managed to stain us in the end,” Klaus continued, adjusting his glasses as he picked up Sunny, who, sensing the tension, had come closer to him to hide in his lap.

He didn’t think the love he had for his sister was wrong. Not anymore. There had been a time when he had definitely felt wrong. Wrong, worthy of being hated. When he thought Violet would never share his feelings. Before, long before he fell into the spiral. But now he was sunk in darkness to the bottom, and it worried him less than the light. No, Olaf wasn’t entirely to blame. And yet, he had arranged all the pieces of the stage so that he and Violet could act. Thanks to him, they had become parents, they had learned that things are not black or white, good or bad. And he couldn’t forget the sparkle in his eyes, as if he already knew that they carried a secret hidden in their souls, something that would separate them forever from what they had considered good for so long.

“I think he knew,” he whispered, too quietly, just for Violet to hear.

“This is wrong,” Isadora said, still confused.

Quigley, however, slumped back into his chair, exhaling.

“And what isn’t?” he asked his sister. “We’re orphans, Isadora. We survived a crazed lunatic who tried to take everything from us. We survived a secret organization that pretended to want to help us and then left us on our own. We survived fires, and lies. I won’t deny that I’m a little disappointed, though. I always thought that because we shared such a similar grief, somehow…”

Violet blushed.

“We’re so sorry if we ever… it’s not that you’re not wonderful… this is how it was meant to be, you understand?”

Isadora covered her face with her hands, exhaling a tired sigh. She then looked at her brother Duncan reproachfully.

“You said you knew,” she said, pointing at him. “How?”

He shrugged.

“I’m a journalist, Is. I’m observant. I saw them entering the house last night and I’ll just say that.”

So that had been the sound of a door closing that Klaus had heard in the early morning, when everyone was supposed to be asleep. And that was why Duncan had started acting distant, almost reserved.

Klaus felt annoyed with himself again. He wasn’t being careful or prudent, and this could put his sisters and Beatrice in a serious bind. Violet squeezed his knee, as if stifling his thoughts.

“And even before that,” Duncan continued. “It was always there, you know? My siblings are all I have in this world and I love them, but we were never like that, you know...”

Violet was still bright red, and she avoided looking at any of her friends. She began to fidget and Klaus knew something was wrong.

“I’m sorry,” she said, extending Beatrice into Klaus’s arms, and Sunny climbed off his lap, realizing that Klaus must take the baby. As soon as the weight of the child left her hands, Violet ran back to the bathroom. Klaus tried to go after her, but Isadora finally stopped him.

“Let me,” she said, giving him a stern look. “I’ll take care of her.”

If the surprise of Klaus and Violet’s relationship had been an uncomfortable surprise, it brought them to the second statement Violet had made.

Isadora followed after Violet, and Klaus heard her ask if she was okay when she got to the bathroom with her. Sunny looked at him uneasily and he stroked her hair and gave her a kiss.

“It’s okay, Sun,” he said. Taking a deep breath he dared to look at Quigley and Duncan.

“Well,” Quigley said at last. “I guess we should say ‘congratulations,’ shouldn’t we? No hard feelings, Klaus. Like I told my sister, nothing in our lives has been exactly conventional and you’re not going to stop being our friends just because you’re a little incestu- ouch!”

Duncan had just kicked him under the table, but neither of them seemed really upset. In fact, Klaus knew Quigley had meant to lighten the tense atmosphere.

He didn't really know why, maybe it was all the tiredness, the worry about Violet and their findings, the feeling of unreality that had been in the air since that moment in the morning when he and Violet had found out about the baby, or it could have been everything, Klaus laughed. Quigley and Duncan also seemed to relax knowing that he hadn't taken it the wrong way. Violet and Isadora were returning at that moment, and Klaus noticed that his sister looked pale. He stood up, holding Bea with one hand and gently stroking Violet's arm with a worried look.

“I think the best thing to do right now would be to go back to the city,” Isadora said, and this time the tone in which she said it made it clear that it wasn't a suggestion. “Violet needs a doctor.”

“Nausea is common during pregnancy, isn't it?” Duncan said bewildered. “Why would she need a doctor if...?”

“Don't be silly, Duncan,” Isadora said. “They are, but we still need to check that everything is okay. And have medicines on hand.”

Violet, half holding Klaus and holding Sunny’s hand, gently interrupted her.

“It’s true that would help,” she agreed, “however, there’s something else we haven’t told you. Something Klaus and I barely understood and it has to do with V.F.D., what we found in the library and how strange everything has been lately. We think Esmé may be behind it all. At home… a couple of days ago, we received some rather threatening letters. One of them said “I know your secret.”

At the mention of Esmé, the triplets’ gazes darkened. Their faces suddenly hardened and the atmosphere tensed. Isadora broke the silence, blunt.

“It’s settled then, let’s pack up and head back to town after lunch. If Esmé is behind us, we need to do something before it’s too late”.

In the years since, Klaus often wondered what would have happened if they had simply stayed there, or decided to return to the island. Taciturn, they all ate the food Sunny had prepared and packed their bags with unusual speed, and soon they were on their way to the city again.

Violet felt worried, afraid of returning to that place that for many months had been their safe place, the only calm place they had known for a long time.

The plan was to go to the apartment to pick up some things and spend the night at the Quagmire house, they did not feel safe alone anymore. They believed that Esmé, or whoever it was, would try the old tactics of separating friends that had worked so well in the past to blackmail them.

The trip took place under a sky that was beginning to fade. It was dusk when they reached the center of the city, and a deep blue, almost dark, blanket covered everything, when Quigley stopped the truck outside the apartment. Sunny was asleep in the backseat and Beatrice had settled into Violet’s arms, but Isadora held her so Violet could get out and grab the necessary things before they left again.

“We won’t be long,” Klaus promised, peering out of the car window from outside, a guilty look on his face. “We’ll just grab the girls’ clothes and…”

“It’s okay, Klaus,” Quigley said. “No rush. We’ll be here, okay?”

Violet’s stomach sank with the awful feeling that something was about to happen. It was their home, and yet it had been tainted, somehow desecrated by this idea of ​​Esmé knowing where they lived. But Isadora seemed to have everything under control with Beatrice and Duncan and Quigley looking calm, so she nodded, took Klaus’ hand, and they headed to the apartment.

“We’ll find a doctor after this, okay?” Klaus assured her as she searched for the keys in her purse. “We should avoid hospitals, though.”

Violet nodded. She was so nervous that her hands were sweating and it wasn’t easy to open the door.

“Avoiding hospitals sounds perfect to me,” the key slipped. Klaus held her hand and she felt herself calm down. Then the lock clicked once, and the door opened.

The apartment was completely dark, something that had never bothered Violet before. And yet… she thought something was moving in the shadows, but she assured herself she was being paranoid. She was nervous, and stressed, and she was just letting her imagination take her to dark places inside herself. She turned on the light, the apartment was just as they had left it.

Violet exhaled a bated breath. With a glance at Klaus, which he gave her back, she took courage. Everything had changed since the last time they had been there, as incredible as it was, since it had only been the day before. But Klaus and Violet’s world had been abruptly altered in a few hours.

With a slight nod from Klaus, Violet entered their home. And he followed her.

Chapter Text

As she searched for a suitcase or bag to putt he clothes in, Violet thought of the day they had arrived in the city after spending a whole year on the island, and thought of how she and Klaus had asked each other in trembling voices what they had done, on those first dark nights without a home, without money, with absolutely nothing in the world but each other.

Those night skies seemed cold and far away, the stars too frivolous and alien, like a beauty they were no longer worthy of. And Beatrice and Sunny always sheltered in their laps, protected from the cold and from that night they had sworn to never mention, never even think about, in which only the girls had slept. And Violet and Klaus had hidden, with their children, in the doorway of an alley that seemed less dirty than the others, although just as dark. The next day, after they had run out of food reserves, Violet got the job at the watchmaker's. A week later they had the apartment, lucky for the first time in their lives that the former couple living there had decided to move out, leaving a mess behind. The landlord had said that if they cleaned it thoroughly she could waive the first payment, but that they must never be late on the others. And that she would kick them out at the slightest provocation.

But Klaus and Violet didn’t care about the threat, or the hard cleaning work that followed. Violet’s weekly paycheck had put food on the table (as well as the couch, it belonged to the former tenants) for Beatrice and Sunny, and Klaus had insisted that she eat something too. She couldn’t go so many hours working without getting food. So she had, and Klaus had pretended he didn’t know that she noticed he wasn’t eating so the others could.

The next month, Klaus had gotten a job at the library. Not exactly the one he had now, as a librarian. He had started out cleaning the floors and shelves, but then he had gotten his boss to promote him to librarian. Sunny and Beatrice, meanwhile, had started school.

Violet remembered the first times she had left them in that white-painted building with figures, colors, and a funny image of a dancing child. The lump in her throat and the suspicion that Olaf could be under the kitty costume that greeted the children every morning, until she remembered that Olaf was buried deep in the sand of a desolate beach.

The books arrived little by little, with effort, and Klaus made sure to collect materials so that Violet could invent. She had loved him so much for that, so much that her heart threatened to burst out of her chest, like when she saw him rock Beatrice to sleep in his arms, and even after that he would not let her go, Violet remembered, because the nights were a precious time when the four of them could be together.

Something like anxiety appeared in her stomach, but it was not exactly that. It was an addictive vertigo, something she wanted to feel forever. She had imagined how Klaus would take care of this new being that would soon be theirs, she had imagined him teaching her or him to read and making sure every night that the blankets were enough, and then a bittersweet feeling scattered everything. Poor Sunny, her Sunny, who had had to go through everything that Olaf had predestined for them. She felt a deep and painful love for her sister-daughter, so brave and willing, and she promised herself that never, neither Sunny, nor Bea, nor the child she was expecting, would go through another night of frivolous stars.

“Violet,” Klaus’s voice brought her out of her reverie. And she noticed that she had put a hand on her belly. “I have the suitcase. Is there anything of yours that I should take…? I have your pajamas but…”

She couldn’t help herself. He was standing there in the doorway and his hair was disheveled, his glasses slightly askew and he was that wonderful familiar body that she always felt hungry for. Her warmth, intelligent minded and kind Klaus, her Klaus… he let himself go for a second when Violet closed the distance and kissed him, and then the suitcase was somewhere between the hallway and the room and the soft bed gathered them like storm clouds.

She was beneath him, but she felt inside him. She felt protected and loved and wanted and that was all she could ask for.

“Vi…” Klaus moaned, trying hard not to lose himself further in the kiss. His chest was heaving and yet he held his sister’s cheek with infinite tenderness. “We shouldn’t, you know, they’re waiting for us.”

Something in her wondered if there would be another chance soon.

“Klaus,” she called out to him, and she lost herself in the gaze that had always accompanied her. “Klaus. Promise me that we’ll always be together. Promise me that wherever we go, even to hell, we’ll be together. Say that you’ll always love me, that I’ll always be yours and you’ll be mine.”

Her brother caught her lips with his, biting lightly, and his hands on Violet’s skin were like feathers.

“Always, Violet,” he swore. “Everything’s going to be okay, okay? No one will hurt you. I’d rather give my life for you, or for any of our daughters.”

She let the words caress her. Our daughters, she knew he was now referring to the child she was carrying in her womb as well. Klaus’ lips had lingered on Violet’s neck, so soft and warm, and she sighed in relief.

Then the door latch clicked shut, and as soon as the sound reached them, Violet and Klaus were up. They stepped out into the hallway. From there they could see that there was no one in the hall, but a chill ran down Violet’s spine as she looked at the window. She slipped her hand into Klaus’s.

“Klaus… the window is open.”

She was absolutely certain that it hadn’t been when they came in.

“Let’s go,” he replied, his voice serious and hoarse. “It’s not safe.”

The door latch was locked, however, and Violet searched for the keys, which she had left on the table, only to find that they were gone.

“Someone came in and took the keys,” she realized. “Do you think they went through the window?”

Klaus nodded, suddenly alert to any shadow or sound. They were trapped. There was only one option: get out through the window that looked out onto the fire escape, but that seemed to be precisely the plan of whoever had locked them in. And yet... they couldn't stay there either. What if the intruder wanted them to think he was gone, but was hidden somewhere in the apartment? Klaus thought dizzily of Violet and what it meant now that she was in danger.

“Whoever it was, they could still be inside,” he whispered then, and thought with a nauseating feeling of how small the apartment was. Whoever it was, they had heard them, maybe even seen them, inside the bedroom, without any of them noticing. “I have to check the bedrooms. You stay here, okay? Scream in any case.”

Violet nodded. Klaus checked the kitchen, the bedrooms, and the bathrooms, and found that no one was there. And when he got back to Violet, he was so relieved he could breathe again. But the only option now was to get out via the ladder. The person could be out there, just waiting, waiting for them to come out so he or she could get its hands on them.

“I’ll get out via the fire escape,” Klaus told her then. “I’ll check if there’s anyone outside, or on the roof. If I see that it’s safe, I’ll come back for you. Violet, any movement, noise or anything you see, you have to scream for me to come back for you, okay? It’s important.”

“Okay.”

She helped him out via the window, getting dizzy at the altitude. Night had fallen and the lights on the ladder had long since burned out, making it almost impossible to see anything. Not even the city lights were enough to make it any less dangerous. Klaus held on tightly to the metal ladder and started to climb, even though the wind chilled his bones.

He should have gone down. He should have helped Violet out the window like he had and gone downstairs, run back to the Quagmires and not come back, even if it meant forgetting the life they had worked so hard to build there. Because it wasn’t safe anymore. But if whoever had ambushed them had heard the conversation in the room earlier and acuse them, there would be little need for proof. The strange family they had was strong proof that their relationship was beyond appropriate limits. And Klaus had to know who was after them, if he or she was still around, if he or she had found out about their secret…

The first thing he saw when he reached the bottom of the stairs was a pair of very high shoes with very thin heels. And his body didn’t react as quickly as he would have liked, stunned and breathless, in the grip of a panic attack, when he saw her. The blonde hair and that pained smile that had haunted him in his dreams.

“You should run back to your precious sister-lover,” she said, her voice full of triumph. “It will be very late though and I’m sure I’ll be doing you a favor.”

Violet’s voice calling out to him pierced through him, chilling him and making the world and that instant hurt on Klaus’ skin, a second before he saw his sister falling out of the window. A horrible sound cut through the night as she hit the landing several feet below and then there was silence.