Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 1:

The storm seemed to come out of nowhere.

“Beatrice?”

Klaus reached over beside him, blindly searching for his glasses.

“Beatrice?!”

He saw the grey sky through the slit of his eyes. Felt the sand against his skin.

Another beach during overcast.

“Beatrice!”

He snapped up at the sound of his sister’s panic.

He saw Violet and Sunny. Bruised up and in slight disarray. But no Beatrice.

Where was his daughter?

He jumped up and rushed to his sisters.

“Are you okay?” he blurted out.

“We’re fine,” Violet told him. “But we can’t find Beatrice.”

“The Beatrice sunk!” Sunny reiterated.

“I can worry about fixing it later,” Violet told him. “But she was in my arms when I got knocked out! Where-”

“Look, we’re all awake and we’re all okay,” Klaus interrupted her. “Don’t take full responsibility. You’re right. We’ll worry about anything else later. Right now, we can all…”

He trailed off.

A voice.

Singing.

On a charming little cattle farm

Near a pretty deadly lake

Lived a very pregnant woman

Who’s husband known as Jake

Though they lived in a mansion

Down Robber Road a tad

‘Twas at the farm the lady born the Little Snicket Lad

“What is that?” he wondered out loud.

“What are those?” Sunny asked, pointing away from her siblings.

They turned to see the bare footprints in the sand.

Violet and Klaus exchanged looks before quickly snatching their sister in their mad dash.

“Hey!”

“Sorry, Sunny,” Klaus told her. “We know you can walk just fine.”

“You’re not a baby, but you’re still slower,” Violet confirmed.

They followed the footprints.

And they took him, they took him

They took him far away

And the voice.

They took him in the dead of night beneath a moon of gray

Through the brush of the jungle near the edge of the beach.

They took him from the kitchen, like you would a midnight snack

To a dark-wooded tree.

The V.F.D they took him

And the dark-haired girl in its branches.

And they never brought him back

The girl’s song paused as she perked up and turned towards them, showing the happy smiling child in her arms.

“Beatrice!” the Baudelaires shouted.

“Vi! Kla! Sun!” little baby Beatrice chirped back.

“Hm,” the dark-haired girl hummed. She smiled at the child in her arms. “I told you they’d come looking.”

The baby giggled in response. She giggled more fervently as the girl flipped herself upside down by the branch as she held her tightly.

“Sorry about that!” called the girl to the Baudelaires. She handed the happily giggling child back to her adoptive mother. “I believe this is yours.”

Violet took baby Beatrice from the stranger and held her tightly. Klaus gently placed Sunny on the ground beside him as he watched the strange girl in fascination.

“Again, sorry,” said the girl. “Believe it or not, not an intentional kidnapping. I just have some impulse control issues.”

She dismounted herself off the tree, landing with an audible thud and “Umph.” She stood up and brushed the sand from her burnt dress before beginning to do stretches.

“When I saw you three and realized who you had to be, I also realized who she had to be, and I couldn’t help myself. In hindsight, I know I should have stuck around with her to make sure you weren’t hurt. But I could see you were breathing, and poor thing started to cry, so first priority became calming the little lady down. I fully planned on coming back with-”

“Stop!” Klaus ordered just as she took a step towards them.

She froze on his order. She followed their eyes, noticing their stiffened body language, down to her third eye on her left ankle.

Her face fell.

“Oh. Yeah. That,” she muttered. Her hands lifted in defense as she spoke in a clear, soft voice. “Listen, Baudelaires, I know seeing the insignia gives you no reason to trust me. In fact, I know it gives you a multitude of reasons not to trust me. But I think we all know at this point that ‘Volunteer’ is a huge misno-”

“How do you know us?” Sunny interrupted, slight growl in her voice.

The girl glanced down at her, a slight pierce in those blue eyes causing Sunny to flinch.

The girl took a deep breath. She looked across the three siblings.

“I could be wrong,” she addressed. “But from the information given, I believe I am speaking to Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire. The Baudelaire children. Because I’ll refer to you three as the Baudelaire orphans over my dead body. It’s not like he or anyone else refers to me as the Collins orphan. Frankly, if he did, I’d break his typewriter over his head. I find the moniker insulting.” She paused to point at the child in Violet’s arms. “And that, I presume, is the daughter of Kit Snicket. And from what I just heard, you named her after your mother. So, Beatrice Snicket or Beatrice Baudelaire the Second?” She shrugged. “Baby Beatrice? I like B.B.”

“You… still haven’t answered-” Violet stuttered in confusion.

“I regret to inform you, but at this point at least half the organization knows who you three are,” the girl said bluntly.

She gave the three of them a sad expression before walking towards them. She circled them as she spoke, examining them.

“I suppose that’s partially my fault,” she sighed. “I mean, it’s mostly his fault but I didn’t need to publish his research. The worst part is you three ending up here of all places. I was really routing for you to start your lives somewhere else. Vanish in the best way possible. Your boat is absolutely trashed, but after everything you’ve been through, I can’t in good conscience convince you three to stay here. But little B.B. complicates things.”

“Her name is Beatrice,” Violet nearly spat.

The girl straightened her posture.

“Right,” she agreed. “I’m sorry. Using that name feels awkward to me. I thought maybe a nickname would help be less confusing.”

“Who are you?” Klaus finally asked.

She smiled at him. A quick flush ran to his cheeks.

She bowed from her waist with slight dramatic flair, crossing one ankle behind the other, the cross around her neck dangling a bit.

“Lola Shay Collins, at your service.”

They looked her up and down.

Dark hair to the waist. Dark olive skin. Striking blue eyes. A silver cross necklace and red dress, burnt at the edges.

And that too familiar eye on her left ankle.

“You’re a Volunteer?” Violet asked cautiously.

Lola sighed as she stood.

“There aren’t a lot of kids my age who actually ask for this, Violet,” she pointed out. She made her way past them. “Much less that want to be branded for it. I was born into the organization. I ‘volunteered’ for this about as much as you did.”

She looked over her shoulder at them.

“I am part of V.F.D,” she clarified. “Reluctantly.”

She tilted her head towards the direction she was walking in.

“Come,” she told them. “Walk and talk. The island is in the eye of the storm, but not all of it all the time. It’s bound to start raining again at least, so we should head inside.”

The Baudelaire family exchanged looks before making the decision to follow her.

The first few steps were silent as they watched her. Meanwhile, she hummed a sweet melody.

“Um, Miss Collins?” Klaus began.

“Yes, Mr. Baudelaire?” she replied smoothly.

He felt a jolt in his chest at the tone in her voice.

The slight chuckle she let out didn’t help matters.

“There’s no need for formalities,” she assured him. “I think you should have a bit of time to relax, don’t you?”

“Lola Shay,” he began again.

“Just Lola,” Lola corrected. “The middle name thing is really just me.”

She turned to face them and continued walking backwards.

 “What did you want to ask?”

Klaus went silent, the flush returning to his cheeks as he nearly froze, seeing her face again so suddenly.

Violet nearly rolled her eyes. Sunny less subtly so.

“Where are we?” Violet asked Lola.

“My family’s private island,” she explained. “Hurricane Isle. I own it, but it’s V.F.D sanctioned. One of those labeled ‘safe places.’ I live in my mansion on the island, but there are actually several inhabitants here.”

“Where?” Sunny asked.

“Under the island,” Lola explained. “Much like the sub-library at the Hotel Denouement.”

The Baudelaires flinched at the mention.

Lola furrowed her brows at the reaction, she turned back around to continue walking.

“Sorry for that.”

Her hair moved slightly out of place as she turned her back to them, and odd discoloration caught Klaus’s eye.

He shook the thought from his mind.

“Um, tell us about yourself, Lola,” he offered.

“What would you like to know?” she replied, a sly smile back in her voice.

“How old are you?” Klaus asked.

“I think you and I are the same age,” Lola replied. “Fourteen at this point, right? That would make Miss Violet here about sixteen? And… sorry Sunshine I never caught how old you are.”

“I’m three,” Sunny replied, smiling at the nickname.

“Oh, definitely not a baby anymore!” Lola praised. She returned to walking backwards, smiling widely. “Can I see those famous chompers?”

Sunny giggled as she gave Lola a wide smile, a smile the possessed much more than four incredibly sharp teeth.

Violet softened her guard seeing the interaction.

“Wow! Cool!” Lola exclaimed. “I imagine teeth like that are also handy in the kitchen?”

“Yeah!” Sunny agreed. “I don’t cut with them anymore, but I can tell the quality of ingredients!”

“That’s awesome!” Lola praised. “And pretty verbose for a three-year-old.”

She looked back up at Klaus.

“You and Violet’s doing, no doubt?” she asked.

Those blue eyes were hypnotizing.

He swallowed.

“Um, yeah,” he replied bashfully. “I like to think so. For Sunny and Beatrice.”

Lola turned her attention back to Sunny.

“How’s the oral fixation?”

“Huh?” Sunny asked, giving her a questioning look.

“Do you still like to bite stuff?” Lola clarified. “When you’re a baby, it’s called teething. When you’re older, people call it an oral fixation. I tend to have a bad chewing habit myself.”

“Trying to find a kinship, are you?” Violet joked.

Lola sighed wistfully.

“Truth be told, we already have a pretty big one.”

She turned her back to them again.

“We’re here,” she told them.

They looked up. Slightly in the distance stood a large mansion in light-gray wood. It looked old and slightly storm beaten. It was marked very obviously by a door made of noticeable green wood with the insignia of an eye carved into it.

“He’s going to freak when he sees you,” Lola mumbled.

“Who is he?” Violet asked as Lola knocked on the door.

Silence.

“Apparently someone with his head stuck in his typewriter again,” Lola grumbled. She pounded on the door louder. “Come on, Snicket! You knew I was going to check for wreckage today! This is important!”

“Snicket?” the Baudelaires questioned in unison.

“I told you that you should bring the master key with you,” a deep voice answered as the door opened slowly.

“And I told you that it’s my house and I’d be back before we had to lock up for another storm,” Lola retorted. “Come on, Lemon Tree. I brought you something special.”

The door fully opened to reveal a large man, dressed more appropriately for noir than the beach, a slight aggravated expression on his face.

“What on Earth could you possibly-”

He froze as he saw the Baudelaire children.

“Violet, Klaus, Sunny,” Lola addressed. “This is Jacques and Kit’s younger brother, Lemony Snicket. And Lemony, I believe you know far too much about the Baudelaires.”

She leaned down to the child in Violet’s arms.

“B.B. this is your uncle.”

Lemony’s eyes seemed to well up at the sight of the children.

“You do look like your mother,” he muttered, his eyes locked on Violet.

Violet squirmed uncomfortably, holding baby Beatrice closer to her chest.

Lemony was jolted at her reaction. He cleared his throat as he regained his composure.

“I’m sorry,” he told the siblings. “I understand that was a jarring first impression.”

“Lem,” Lola addressed him again, moving towards him a placing a hand gently on his arm. “Look.”

She gestured towards Violet, more specifically the child in her arms.

Lemony’s eyes widened.

“Is that…”

“Kit’s daughter,” Lola confirmed. “Your niece.”

The Baudelaires studied him briefly, noting his similarities to the Snicket siblings they’d previously met. Remembering the Snickets they knew were gone for good.

He was obviously pained to see the little girl in Violet’s arms.

Violet glanced down at her precious child and saw, once again, the resemblance to her birth mother.

“Would you like to hold her?” she offered.

Lemony was jolted once again from whatever thoughts he might have had.

“I…” he began “I couldn’t impose…”

“Nonsense,” Violet scolded him, placing his niece in his arms. “You’re her family. This is overdue.”

Lemony took her from the teenager in an almost clumsy manner.

The little girl stared up at him, both perfect strangers to each other.

Suddenly she smiled at him and placed her little hand on his face with a discernable senseless babble.

The corner of his mouth twitched, threatening to smile back at the child in his arms.

“You look just like Kit,” he said softly.

“Her name is Beatrice,” Lola told him softly in turn.

His eyes widened as he turned to look at her.

She gave him a crooked smile and a shrug as if she pitied him.

She turned back to the Baudelaires.

“Come in,” she told them. “I’m sure it’s been a while since you’ve been somewhere warm. And you have a million questions I’m determined to answer.”

“Lola,” Lemony warned.

“Whether anyone likes it or not,” she spat back. “Come on, Lemonade. Don’t you think they’ve earned the truth well enough? I’m not about to lie about stuff they basically already know for a bunch of people I’ve never met.”

He gave her a slight glare before rolling his eyes.

“Difficult for me to side with you while you openly insult me,” he pointed out.

“And yet, you can’t say I’m morally in the wrong,” she challenged. “You just don’t like it. Anyway!” She gestured grandly inside. “Baudelaires, welcome to my home. Excuse the depressed hermit that lives here rent free.”

“I am not a-”

“Name one person who has actually seen your face or heard your voice in the past two weeks and I’ll take it back!”

Lemony’s mouth pinched shut in frustration as his grip on his niece grew slightly tighter. He followed in behind the children.

They entered the home to seem the warm environment. The living room decorated in comforting reds, a cozy dining room with a long table connected to an equally welcoming kitchen, and a large staircase leading upstairs.

“You three are welcome to stay as long as you’d like,” Lola told them. “We have to check the doppler to see when skies are clear again for sailing, but as soon as it’s safe I can secure a new boat for you. In the meantime, there are several guest rooms open for use.”

“That’s very kind of you,” Violet told her.

“Kindness, nothing,” Lola argued. “You three have been through the damn ringer. I don’t blame anyone who wants to get out of the organization’s reach in general, much less people who have been as screwed over as you.”

The Baudelaires jolted a bit at her casual cursing.

“Um,” Klaus stuttered. “A bit of a moot point asking your opinion on The Schism then.”

“Both sides are full of liars,” Lola told him point-blank. “One side encourages arson and murder, the other openly brainwashes and uses child soldiers, in case you didn’t notice.”

“Lola!” Lemony scolded.

“Oh, murder me gently! You got your tattoo when you were four!” Lola argued back.

She turned her attention back to the Baudelaire children.

“The entire organization is messed up,” she told them. “I don’t support any actions performed by previous generations. So, get that straight right now. Let it actually be your choice if you want to participate in our generation. You want the candy-coated rose-colored version that preaches ‘noble vs wicked’ then talk to Lemony.”

“Your jaded nature is showing,” Lemony told her.

She stuck out her tongue.

“Just for that I’m not even easing them into you stalking them for like a year,” she smirked.

“What?!” the elder Baudelaires exclaimed as they turned their attention to Lemony.

“She’s making it sound much worse than it was to get my goat” he defended. “A phrase which here means ‘attempting to annoy me in a way that would cause me to lash out at her for attention.’”

“We know what-”

Klaus was interrupted by Lola’s hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t take it personally,” she told him. “He doesn’t actually think you didn’t know. That’s a tick he’s had since he was a kid.”

“He has a tick where he defines words and phrases?” Klaus asked in disbelief.

“Yep,” she confirmed. “Since he was about ten, according to the Snicket Twins.”

Lemony cleared his throat to hide the slight blush in cheeks.

“Bold of you to attempt to embarrass me as if you had no involvement in my research,” he told Lola calmly.

“I never said my hands were clean, Lemonbar,” she teased. “I even told them it was my fault everything was published.”

“On that note, I think it’s only fair we actually see this research,” Violet interjected. “See how slandered we’ve really been.”

“Actually, in Lemony’s defense, I’d say his work more clears your name,” Lola clarified. “But, yes, I agree. That’s probably the best place to start. Bad Beginning all the way to The End. Though, it looks like The End may need some amendments.”

“Maybe we should have them look at the transcripts instead of the hard copies!” Lemony panicked.

“What? Wh-”

Lola paused, then began to laugh.

“Oh, right!” she exclaimed. “Your dedications! Oh, you have put yourself in deep water there, Snicket! A phrase which here means ‘You done messed up, pal!’ What? Did you think they’d never see the thirteen-issue long series of books in the library?”

“Well, as you’ve so dutifully pointed out, it does require amendments,” Lemony told her. “Looks like I may have to break my thirteen-chapter pattern. Maybe a bonus fourteenth chapter in The End.”

“The end of The End, I assume?” Lola joked.

“Hold on. Dedications?” asked Violet.

“Books?” asked Klaus.

“Thirteen issues?” asked Sunny.

“Mr. Snicket here is an author,” Lola explained. “He actually tends to specialize in children’s fiction in spite of his morose sense of, well, everything really. He also has a history of writing poetry, extended histories, ill-advised play reviews, and editing his own unauthorized autobiography. I believe I can go ahead and let him explain how that pertains to you three.”

The Baudelaires turned to look at him, expectantly.

He froze in what only could be described as stage fright.

He looked between the three children, thinking of everything he knew about them and everything he didn’t want them to know about him. The silence was only broken by the sound of his niece’s voice.

“Kla!” she called out.

Klaus extended his arms to receive her, taking note of Lemony’s expression as he handed her back to him.

“I wouldn’t take it personally,” Klaus assured him. “She’s only one, so she’s still a bit clingy. You and Lola are the first people she’s met outside the family.”

Lemony flinched.

As did Klaus at hearing his own words.

“Not that you aren’t her- I’m sorry. That was incredibly poor wording.”

Lemony took a deep breath and attempted to change his expression.

“No, no,” he corrected. “I know what you meant. You’ve known her for her whole life. I’ve only known her for a few minutes. Family should be more than genetics, after all.”

“Unn,” baby Beatrice babbled, looking up at her uncle. She reached out her small hand to hold his finger just in her reach.

He couldn’t help but melt at her touch.

“Hello, Bea…”

But he couldn’t finish her name.

Lola’s brows furrowed.

“Lem,” she prompted him softly.

Klaus and Violet exchanged a look of concern.

Sunny examined the large man in front of her with his sad expression.

“What’s wrong, Mr. Snicket?” she asked bluntly.

Klaus and Violet jolted, ready to hush their sister’s faux pas.

Lemony himself was woken from his thoughts again.

“Nothing,” he lied. “I’m sorry for acting so strangely. It’s just… I never expected to meet you. Any of you. Much less speak to any of you so extensively.”

“You’re an old associate of our parents,” Violet spoke up. “Obviously. You’re Kit and Jacques’s brother.”

“And Violet was going to be named after you,” Klaus remembered. “You must’ve been very dear to them. I’m frankly surprised you and I don’t share a name.”

“Why did they think you were dead?” Sunny asked.

“All brilliant points,” Lola said. She gestured for Lemony to speak.

He let out a deep sigh.

“And ones I realize are my responsibility to answer to,” he agreed.

“To the library?” Lola asked.

“I suppose it’s only appropriate for a sanctuary to also be a chopping block,” he replied.

“You’re pretentious,” she smirked.

She moved towards the brilliant glass entryway that had previously been out of their line of sight from the foyer.

Lemony gently pulled his hand away from his niece’s grasp to allow himself and the Baudelaire family to follow her.

The Baudelaires let out a collective gasp as they entered the library. Undoubtedly the largest room in the house, not only were the walls covered in neatly curated shelves, but even more shelves and shelves of book stood in neat columns and rows. In the middle of the room sat a reading area with comfortable seating and tables for tea and conversation.

“It’s beautiful,” Klaus breathed.

“That’s a huge compliment coming from you,” Lola praised. “I would hope I keep this place up-to-snuff. Mama wouldn’t have it any other way.”

She gave him a quick half-hearted smile.

“Everyone, sit. Talk. There’s a lot of air to clear.”

He watched her move as she disappeared into the shelves.

He woke up feeling the small pat on his face from his adoptive daughter. He smiled at her before following the others to the seating area. He sat her snugly in his lap as Sunny climbed up into Violet’s lap beside him.

Lemony paced uncomfortably as he looked for the words.

“Klaus, you’re named after your grandfather,” he landed on.

“What?” Klaus asked, slightly startled.

“You made the point that we should share a name,” Lemony reminded. “The news of my supposed death would have been relatively fresh when your mother was pregnant with Violet. While I personally think there were better options, I see why my name would have been a candidate had she been born a boy. However, in nearly the two years between the two of you, I assume the wound would have healed. Or some other circumstances would have just caused them to change their minds.”

“But what gave them the impression you were dead in the first place?” Violet asked.

“Simple,” Lemony told her. “The same reason the majority of people believe Lemony Snicket is dead. I had to go on the lamb after being framed for an arson I did not commit. A phrase which here means hiding from prosecution of the law.”

“We know what-”

“I know. I’m sorry,” he reassured. “Like Lola said, I don’t particularly do that on purpose. That being said, one misinformed letter, an obituary in The Daily Punctilio, and gossip spread through the organization and Lemony Snicket was dead. In my predicament, it was wise to stay dead with only a handful of people being aware to the contrary over the years.”

“Until recently,” Lola chimed in. She placed the large stack of books she was carrying on the coffee table in front of them with an audible thud.

“Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events,” Klaus read aloud.

“A mostly complete retelling of research Lemony’s compiled on the three of you mixed with several anecdotes of Lemony’s personal life, stories about his and your parents’ time in V.F.D, and the odd vocabulary lesson thanks to his definition tick,” Lola explained. She turned to him. “Give them the spiel, Snicket.”

“I don’t particularly think that’s necessary.”

“Lemony.”

He sighed.

“My name is Lemony Snicket. Over the past two years, I have made it my personal mission to compile information pertaining to the Baudelaire orphans and their lives beginning from the tragedy of the Baudelaire fire and every bit of the series of unfortunate events that followed. Though I do not recommend reading these tales of woe, it is of my opinion that this information is necessary to be available to those who find it. Even if reader’s digression is advised and there are much happier things to read.” He paused, feeling their eyes, his hidden beneath the shadow of the brim of his hat. “I never thought I would ever meet you. When I heard of the fire, when I heard of Beatrice and Bertrand’s children, when I heard who you were left in the hands of… I followed behind. Always narrowly missing you, never getting directly involved due to my own restrictions… But I needed answers. Your names needed to be cleared. People needed to know the truth the best I could tell it!”

He looked up, his eyes focused on the baby girl in Klaus’s lap.

“Beatrice…” he muttered. He smiled, though not of happiness. More as if he understood the joke being played on him. His face fell with a sigh. “I don’t particularly know if I should apologize or not. I admit you could call what I’ve done an invasion of your privacy. Especially since it began with my morbid curiosity and personal wants rather than an urge to help you. When I began, I never intended to publish my work, but over time realized how badly everyone needed the truth…”

He paused and took a breath.

“I’m sorry.”

The silence was deafening.

And far too long.

“Lola,” he begged. “Please, at least you say something.”

“Look up, Lem,” she told him.

He did as she told him, fighting his own shame as he did so.

His heart shattered at the sight.

Tears. Welled up in the eyes of every Baudelaire child. Silently falling down their faces. A small sniffle escaped from Sunny as she turned to bury her face in her sister’s chest.

Violet petted her hair as she held her close. Klaus moved to wipe the tears away from under his lenses.

The older two caught their breath and leaned against each other in a comforting gesture, Klaus wiping away his older sister’s tears as he’d done his own. They shared a halfhearted smile as they both turned their attention to their younger sister, giving her quiet words of encouragement at a nearly silent volume.

They straightened up, Klaus gave the child in his lap a gentle kiss on her head as reassurance, and the three took a breath.

“Sorry about that,” Klaus told Lola and Lemony.

“Never apologize for crying in this house,” Lola told him. “We’ve all been through our own personal hells, you three especially. I will never discourage you from letting yourselves get that poison out of your body.”

“Has anyone ever apologized to us like that before?” Violet asked her brother.

“If they have, I don’t remember when,” Klaus replied. He turned to Lola. “How are you involved in this?”

“Well, other than helping with some of Lemony’s research,” she began “I’m the one responsible for its publication and distribution.”

She opened the cover to one of the books and indicated to the publisher’s mark.

“My family’s publishing company,” she explained. “Given to my mother as a wedding present from my father. He even named it after her. It’s mine now, and I also thought people should know your story.”

“I thought you said you were fourteen,” Violet said.

“I am,” Lola confirmed. “But I’m emancipated. Legally speaking, all assets in my parents will are mine as I am seen as an adult by the letter of the law, even if not by the spirit of it.”

She glanced over at Lemony.

“No need to define the word ‘emancipated?’”

“I think they know what ‘emancipated’ means,” he told her. “Even if they didn’t, I think you explained succinctly enough.”

“You’re an orphan,” Sunny assessed.

“A house fire when I was seven,” Lola confirmed. She gave the family her own halfhearted smile. “Unfortunately, if you’ll excuse the wording, there are quite a few of us in the organization. And we really should look out for each other.”

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Violet told her.

“Yours too,” Lola replied.

“I wish we’d been given the option of emancipation,” Klaus said. “You’re the same age Violet was when the fire happened. If she had been considered an adult at the time, we could have avoided all of this.”

 “I’ve actually been emancipated for a few years,” Lola explained. “A little bit before I turned twelve. It wasn’t an easy process. Board members were not pleased to take orders from someone barely in double digits, but the lawyer I managed to grab hold of was a shark.”

“Shark?” Sunny asked.

“Like he was ruthless and bloodthirsty,” Lola told her. “Honestly not a fair representation of the animal in my opinion.”

Sunny giggled at the joke.

She smirked at her and continued.

“Speaking of lawyers, whoever let that banker even touch the will should be charged with some form of negligence. Someone who doesn’t understand the term ‘closest relative’ shouldn’t be in charge of placing guardianship of anyone. Especially with that excuse being made of paper. I’d love to actually hear the explanation as to how you three are related to a lumbermill.”

She looked at over at Lemony again.

“Did you tell them?”

“I set up the groundwork,” he told her “but I didn’t quite know how to elaborate.”

“What? Only a wordsmith behind a typewriter, Lemonbar?” she asked. “Come on, it’s one of the easier relationships to explain.”

“I suppose,” he sighed. “Klaus?”

“Yes?” Klaus replied.

“The reason I know you’re named after your grandfather? It isn’t a reflection of my research,” Lemony explained. “It’s because he was my uncle. By marriage, but nevertheless. The men in my family have a habit of taking their wives’ last names. Your father is no exception.”

Their eyes widened.

“Are you saying that…” Violet trailed off.

“Lemony is legitimately your first cousin once removed,” Lola confirmed. “And that makes little B.B. here your second cousin!”

“Had Mr. Poe read the will correctly,” Lemony continued “odds are more likely you would have ended up in the custody of one of my siblings. Not me, of course, considering the current exaggerated rumors of my death.”

“Is that why you had such an interest in us?” Violet asked. “Because we’re family?”

“Partially,” Lemony admitted. “Bertrand was a good man. More than just my younger cousin, a dear friend. All he wanted was to make others laugh. We all admired that of him. And the way he loved your mother and made her smile…”

Klaus’s brow furrowed in slight frustration.

“I wish they’d talked about you,” he said. “Any of you.”

“We understand why they didn’t,” Lemony replied. “At least, Jacques, Kit, and I did.”

Klaus sighed and reached for the first book.

“Well, may as well see the damage.”

Lola placed her hand on his shoulder to stop him, seeing the subtle flinch from Lemony.

“One bombshell at a time, perhaps,” she coaxed.

Lemony relaxed, seeing the Baudelaire’s attention turned to Lola.

“You three have been through a hell of a shipwreck,” she continued. “I say we get you three cleaned up. Some new clothes. A once-over from a medical professional maybe. If you’d be okay with it, I’d like to show you the Underground City, where the majority of the V.F.D residents live. Then we can come back here, get you situated in the upstairs rooms, and then fix you a proper meal. How does that sound?”

The Baudelaires exchanged looks.

“How many people have read these books?” Violet asked.

“I’m not sure,” Lola admitted. “But I do know you have an audience. I’d like to believe people have the decency to leave you be, but on the chance they don’t I’d be happy to act as personal security and shut down anyone who bothers you.”

“You?” Klaus asked.

“Yeah,” she told him. “I know I may not look like it because I’m young, but I can hold my own. Besides, I own the island. I have a lot more reach in the organization than it might seem. And with every resident down there being affiliated…”

Another exchange of looks.

“You promise?” Sunny asked.

She knelt on one knee to level herself to Sunny’s eyes.

“I promise,” she spoke gently. “And I keep my promises. I don’t want to see you guys get hurt anymore.”

She extended her pinky out.

“Can you trust me, Sunshine?”

Sunny smiled and wrapped her pinkie around hers in agreement. Lola returned the smile and looked up to the older Baudelaires.

“What about you two?”

Klaus’s heart skipped a beat.

“I think we can trust you,” he agreed in nearly a whisper.

Violet hesitated as she looked for her words.

“You’d be the first person we’ve trusted in a while,” she said cautiously.

Lola stood, keeping eye contact with Violet as she spoke.

“Yeah, I know,” she said sadly. “But I hope I can at least earn your trust if you’d let me.”

A smile broke across Violet’s lips.

“You’re doing a good job so far.”

Lola returned her smile.

“Thank you, Violet. That means a lot.”

Violet stood with Sunny on her hip.

“Lead the way.”

Lola grinned and gave a swift nod as she began to walk away, Violet and Sunny following close behind her.

Klaus stood up, Beatrice in his arms, ready to follow. He paused and turned to Lemony.

“Here.”

Lemony stiffened a bit as Klaus handed the girl to him.

“What this?” he asked.

“She’s your niece,” Klaus reminded. “You’re right. Genetics shouldn’t matter too much. But I also know that you’re both all you have left. I don’t think it would be a bad idea for you to spend time together while we’re gone.”

He leaned in and gave her another kiss.

“Be good for your Uncle Lemony, ok?” he told her. “We’ll be right back. I love you.”

“Wuv Kla!” Baby Beatrice chimed back.

Klaus gave her a smile before turning his attention back to Lemony.

“She likes stories,” he told him. “Maybe you should take advantage of being an author.”

A sad smile crossed Lemony’s face.

“You’re just like your father.”

Klaus gave a slight startle, then a halfhearted smile and shrug before running off to his sisters’ side.

The four of them stood in front of a large bookshelf on the back wall.

“Okay. Watch closely,” Lola said. “The books on this shelf have no sensible order. That’s because they’re decoys. All of the real titles can be found on the other shelves in proper placement. Now, when I pull down a few of them in order of their authors…”

She pulled down four. One by O’Brien, the philosophies of Plato, a tragedy of Euripides, and Nabokov’s magnum opus.

At the pull of the last hardcover, the shelf began to shift as it split in two, the elevator doors behind them opening alongside.

Lola grinned.

“Going down?”

Chapter 2:

The elevator doors closed as Lola pressed the button. She began to hum a familiar tune.

The elevator was somewhat spacious for four people. Enough for Lola to easily walk past that Baudelaires as she hummed.

She knocked on the wall.

“Shave and a haircut!” she sang. A panel in the wall opened, a pair of slip-on shoes fell rhythmically. “Two bits!”

She took the shoes and caused Klaus to flinch as she grabbed his shoulder for balance.

“Pardon,” she told him and she put her shoes on.

“Secret shoes?” Violet asked.

“Not secret, just kept out of the way,” Lola corrected. “I hate wearing them, but I can’t walk everywhere barefoot whether I like it or not. Just easier to keep a pair in the elevator, ya know?”

“Quite the musical way to get them,” Klaus assessed. He flushed slightly. “Charming, really. Is it a coded passage?”

“I would certainly hope you find me musical, Mr. Baudelaire,” Lola told him. “I am a musician. But, no, I just figured out how many times you had to tap on the wall to knock it open. Trust me, when it doesn’t fall in a way that finishes the song right, I hate it.” She gave him a smile. “I’m curious if you know this. Fun fact about that song, we know it as “Two bits” but in several countries it’s the same tune but an entirely different song. In some languages, it’s actually incredibly insulting.”

“Oh?” Klaus nearly stuttered. “Um, no I actually didn’t know that. How is it insulting?”

“Well, a mild version of that is the Italian lyrics,” she explained. “Ammazza la vecchia… col Flint! Which translates to ‘Kill the old lady with Flint,’ Flint being a brand of pesticide. If I remember correctly, in Latin American Spanish, that song is straight up an insult I don’t feel appropriate saying in front of Sunny.”

“Please don’t,” Violet agreed.

“But, I-” Sunny protested.

“No!” Violet and Klaus scolded.

“Do you speak Latin American Spanish?” Violet asked Lola.

“No,” Lola explained. “I just remember the translation. The Italian is in my skillset though. My father was an immigrant from Verona, so I learned Italian very early. I consider myself to have two first languages.”

Ding!

“Oh, we’re here!”

The elevator doors opened to reveal a city of grey. It appeared to be a sort of walking city, small shops, a hospital in the distance, sidewalks and residential abodes. People walking around, tattooed and otherwise, breathed life into the city.

Men.

Women.

Children.

“Welcome to The Underground City, Baudelaires,” Lola welcomed.

“Everyone here is a Volunteer?” Klaus asked.

“Every resident is a member of The Organization, yes,” Lola confirmed. “If you want to get super specific, you could say everyone down here is a Firefighter. There’s a lengthy application process, including a personal investigation of the applicants. The goal is to keep spontaneous bits of arson to a minimum. Though, to be fair, the city-wide sprinkler system would prevent any mass fires if the engineers did what I asked.”

Violet stared at the overhead dome in amazement.

“This is all man-made…” she mused.

“Built by V.F.D’s best,” Lola praised. She nudged Violet playfully. “Well, almost.”

“Is there any way I could look at the blueprints for this place?” Violet asked excitedly. “Or talk to any of the engineers? I would love to pick their brains!”

“I’d be happy to arrange that for you, darling!” Lola agreed. “Maybe you could give some ideas yourself. This place is still actively being built as we gain new residents. The shell, homes and businesses, the irrigation system. If you’d like to help, it would be appreciated. But I do warn that you’d probably have to stick around for a bit, if not have us set up something where you’d be able to travel back and forth.”

Violet studied her for a moment.

“Huh,” she mused in thought.

Lola smiled at the three.

“Walk and talk, Baudelaires. I have somewhere specific to take you.”

The trio followed her lead as she walked ahead of them.

“What all is down here?” Klaus asked.

\“Oh, a few different businesses. All Volunteer-run,” Lola explained. “The hospital was one of the first establishments up. Town Hall where the town counsel and I meet-”

“You’re invited to meetings with the town counsel?” Violet asked.

“Well, they’re building everything under my island,” Lola explained. “Nothing gets done without my say-so. I may as well be the mayor. Anyway, we have two libraries because of course we do. North and South. Those are their names. We’ll be passing through Town Square soon. It’s a lot like a city park of sorts. Has the cutest little café in it. It’s currently the only space in town where the ceiling of the dome is made of glass so there’s natural light. It’s filtered through ocean water above it, but it’s better than no sunlight at all, right?”

“Was this your idea?” Sunny asked.

“Nah, they started building this place a while before I got my tattoo,” Lola said. “Whoever pointed out that human beings require sunlight as a basic comfort is one of the smarter members of the organization, I can tell you that much.”

“No,” Sunny corrected. “The city.”

Lola slowed to a halt.

“No,” she answered. “My parents commissioned a place like this some point before they died. I don’t know when or when the organization took up their offer, but like I said they started building before they took me.”

She turned to face them.

“You three are actually a fairly unique circumstance in that you weren’t raised with knowledge about the organization,” she explained bluntly. “I don’t know if most families are like mine, but I know that a lot of volunteers with children are at least not too secretive about being volunteers to their children. Mine, for example, chose not to keep it a secret from me and had a ‘no lying’ policy when it came to it. This is partially because, unlike most adults of their generation, they legitimately volunteered as adults.”

She paused, seeming as if she was trying to find the words.

“Their best friend wasn’t so lucky,” she landed on. “I’m using the word ‘lucky’ very loosely. Their best friend, my Godfather, was indoctrinated as a child. So was Lemony. So was anyone you happen to meet with the tattoo on their ankle.”

As she said this, she crossed her left ankle behind her right to try and hide it.

“My parents had their insignias in different places on their bodies,” she explained. “But the ankle usually means they aren’t a voluntary Volunteer. Someone usually born in the organization, taken at some point in their childhoods, and trained as such. Lemony and a lot of adults in his generation were given the impression that the organization doesn’t really do this anymore. But, as you can tell, someone lied.”

“Why are you telling us this?” Violet asked.

Lola shrugged.

“You three have been kept it the dark long enough, haven’t you?” she asked. “Truth isn’t pleasant, but I don’t like lying.” She gestured to Sunny. “Sunny asked me a question. It required a little background. The long and short of it is, my parents saw the effects of what happens when the organization rips families apart in order to train new recruits.”

She turned her back to them.

“If the whole family is under the organization’s roof, there’s no reason to rip the family apart.”

She began to walk away, the Baudelaires silently following behind her.

Then she began to sing.

The same tune they’d heard her singing in the tree, but dramatically different lyrics.

When we grab you by the ankles,

Where our mark is to be made,

You'll soon be doing noble work,

Although you won't be paid

She held herself tightly as she walked.

When we drive away in secret,

You'll be a volunteer,

So don't scream when we take you

She sighed deeply.

“The world is quiet here.”

She kept moving forward, slightly slouched, silence enveloping them.

The Baudelaires were lost for words.

Tragedy was nothing new to them, but it caught them off-guard to see it affect someone else.

“You said you’re a musician,” Klaus muttered, hoping anything would break this awful silence. “You have a beautiful voice.”

“Thank you,” Lola replied, false smile in her voice.

“Did you write that song?” he asked.

“No,” Lola told him. “I usually only sing that song to annoy Lemony. It’s called The Little Snicket Lad. It’s about him.”

She paused again.

“And when they took him and the twins. I haven’t actually thought about it in a while, but when I saw little B.B. I couldn’t help myself. Her mother wrote that song, after all.”

The Baudlaires paused for a moment and exchanged looks. Lola stopped in her tracks and turned to them as she’d noticed they’d stopped.

Klaus began to panic and decided to try again.

“Um,” he stuttered. “Were you close with the Snickets?”

“Very,” Lola replied. She continued their walk. “Kit mostly. Jacques was off the island a lot. All three used to live with me, though.”

“What’s your relationship with Lemony?” he asked. “You seem…”

“He’s my V.F.D-sanctioned mentor,” Lola explained. “Another thing the organization allegedly doesn’t do anymore. Though, personally, I’d call him more a roommate than a mentor. He calls me a menace. Lovingly, I believe. And I take pleasure in aggravating him. Because I’m a menace. Apparently, I’m karma for what he put his mentor through.”

She turned to face them and spoke as she confidently strode backwards as if she were back on the empty beach.

“Same mentor your father would have a few years later,” she informed them. “She’s who Sunny’s named after.”

Sunny’s eyes widened.

“What do you know about my namesake?” she asked.

“Enough to know your middle name is Theodora,” Lola smirked.

She glanced over her shoulder, then back at the Baudelaires with a grin.

“Ready to get a little sun?”

Their attention was drawn to the streams of light illuminating the area in front of them. The Town Square area was bathed in the ocean-filtered light, giving the structures about the park-like area a slight greyish-blue hue. Among many picnic areas and tables were several people. Couples, families, groups of friends of many different ages. In the center stood a wishing fountain. The café Lola had mentioned was nearby.

“Wow,” Sunny muttered.

“This is… The most normal looking situation we’ve seen in a while,” Klaus said.

“Almost eerie,” Violet agreed.

“Maybe,” Lola agreed. “Kinda pretty though. Hell, a lot of the time there’s more sun right here than on the actual island. Lucky, you three. The beach is almost always grey and dreary.”

She flashed them a smile.

“Let me buy you three something to drink,” Lola offered. “Calm your nerves a bit.”

“Oh, that won’t be-”

“Violet, I insist,” she said. “Any restrictions I should know about? I know no peppermints.”

The siblings stopped and looked at each other.

“Um, not particularly,” Klaus told her.

“Dislikes?” she asked again. “What about something to eat? Something small so dinner isn’t spoiled. Do you like sweets?”

“Really, Lola,” Violet told her. “You don’t need to-”

“Can I have something crunchy?” Sunny asked.

Lola gave her a smile.

“At your service, Sunshine. You three pick a table, I’ll be right back.”

The three watched her run off to the café counter as they sat at the picnic table nearby.

“Why did you take her up on that?” Violet asked her sister.

“What?” Sunny asked. “She was trying to be nice.”

“That’s all she’s been doing,” Klaus agreed. “When was the last time someone was that honest with us?”

“When was the last time someone has been honest at all?” Violet retorted.

“The Quagmires?” Sunny asked.

“True,” Violet agreed with discomfort at the mention of their lost friends. “Do you think that Lola and Lemony may have any information on the Triplets? If they’re okay?”

“Maybe,” Klaus conceded. “I supposed it depends on what’s in those books. Odd that they’ve apparently been mass-produced but no one has bothered us.”

“We’ve been with Lola this whole time,” Violet reminded. “If she’s as high ranking as she mentioned, it’s possible no one wants to meddle in her affairs.”

“But no one’s bothering us now either,” Sunny told her.

Violet froze and looked around.

So many people.

Minding their own.

“You’re right,” she muttered.

“Maybe no one here knows us by appearance,” Klaus offered.

“Lola and Lemony did,” Violet pointed out.

“Lemony’s been researching us,” Klaus reminded her. “Lola was helping him. She only knew who B.B. was by inference.”

“Seriously? You’re calling her B.B. now too?” Violet scolded.

“Sorry,” Klaus replied. “It’s kinda catchy. It was a slip of the tongue.”

“I think it’s cute,” Sunny told her.

“Not you too, Sunny,” Violet sighed.

“Lola like nicknames,” Sunny observed. “She’s been calling me ‘Sunshine.’”

“That’s different,” Violet told her.

“How?” Sunny asked.

Violet pursed her lips trying to find an answer.

“You can’t find an excuse not to like it, can you?” Klaus teased.

“Shut up,” Violet retorted, reaching across to give him a playful shove on the shoulder.

Klaus chuckled at his sister’s reaction. Then he seemed to become lost in thought.

“There is something bothering me about Lola,” he admitted.

“The fact that you’re obviously attracted to her?” Violet teased.

Klaus began to sputter.

“Wh-what?” he stuttered. “I’m not…”

He sighed.

“It’s that obvious?”

“You start blushing just because she looks at you,” Violet pointed out.

He sighed again, running his fingers through his hair in slight frustration.

“Okay, fine. She’s pretty,” he admitted. “I’m intrigued by her boisterousness too. Her being so nice so far hasn’t helped matters. Her voice really is gorgeous… And she seems so knowledgeable about the oddest things… She’s probably the most straight-shooting person we’ve talked to in ages! And did you see how good she is with Beatrice and Sunny?”

The redness in his cheeks deepened in hue with every passing trait. A twitterpated smile crossed his face.

“Ew,” said Sunny.

“Careful, Klaus,” Violet warned. “Remember the last time you fell for a pretty face that quickly.”

“Oh, God, don’t bring that up,” he groaned. “I would hope I wouldn’t be that stupid twice.”

“I like Lola a lot better,” Sunny said.

“She definitely seems a lot less self-serving than Fiona,” Violet agreed.

“But in spite of the attraction, I agree we can’t just trust her off the bat,” Klaus told them. “What’s bothering me about Lola is the dress she’s wearing. Did you two notice it was burnt too?”

His sisters shared an unsure look.

Violet went to speak, only to be interrupted by a loud whistle.

They looked up to see Lola headed towards them carrying a tray.

She placed the tray on the table as she sat next to a slightly flustered Klaus.

“Here ya’ll are. Some warm tea,” she told them. “Hope you don’t mind English Breakfast. Forgot to ask your preference so I went for something safe. Sunny, I got us both frozen cake pops, crunchiest thing they offered.”

She handed the youngest Baudelaire a pink ball on a stick.

“Thank you!” Sunny grinned.

“No problem!” Lola replied with a smile.

The two toasted their treats before biting into them with an audible crunch.

Violet and Klaus stared at Lola in fascination.

“What?” she asked. “I like sweets! You two had your chance.”

The two blinked a few times before silently reaching for their drinks, continuing to stare.

“Um,” Klaus said. “Thank you for the tea.”

“You’re welcome,” Lola replied, reaching for her own cup. “My preferred blend. I hope that’s okay.”

They watched as she sipped her tea, taking small drinks of their own.

Her brows furrowed as she started feeling their eyes more intensely. She reached behind her, flattening her hair to the back of her neck.

“Is something wrong?” she asked, startling Klaus with how quickly she turned to him.

“Um, I’m sorry I-”

“It’s rude to stare, you know?” she said, turning her attention to Violet.

“I’m sorry! We didn’t mean-”

“They don’t know if we can trust you,” Sunny interrupted calmly.

The three teenagers paused at her interruption.

Lola seemed to relax, her hands falling from her neck.

“Yeah,” she muttered. “That makes sense.”

She took a breath.

“I’m sorry about that, Klaus. Violet,” she said. “There’s, um… I’m a little sensitive to being stared at. It makes sense to be cautious after what you’ve been through. Many allies have turned on you in the past.”

There was a pause.

“A lot of allies have also been hurt due to our actions,” Klaus admitted. “I’m sorry, Lola.”

“Me too,” Violet agreed. “You’ve given us no reason to think anything negative of you. You’ve been very upfront.”

“I wouldn’t say no reason,” Lola told her. “You have a track record of meeting new people with seemingly good intentions, only for them to either be completely useless to you or completely backstab you. I come in as a complete stranger already knowing your life story with deep connections to this secret organization that’s caused several issues for you over the years. I can’t blame you at all for being jumpy.”

She took another sip of her tea as the elder Baudelaires continued to be lost for words.

“Lola,” Sunny began. “Are you religious?”

“Hm?” Lola asked, confused. “Oh! You mean this, right?”

She indicated to the silver cross-shaped necklace she was wearing with the small red jewel in the middle.

“No, I’m not,” she explained. “It belonged to my mother. She wasn’t really religious either. It was a gift from someone important to her. What about you three? I know your family is Jewish. Have you been able to practice?”

“Not well,” Violet replied sheepishly. “It wasn’t super easy on the other island.”

“And I feel it’s a little late for me to be Mitzvah’d at this point,” Klaus said. He laughed as if he were joking, but noticeably wasn’t.

“Is it?” Lola asked. “Does it have to happen when you’re thirteen?”

“Well, no,” Klaus explained. “But spending your 13^th birthday in a jail cell accused of murder… You tend to not think about it.”

Lola’s face fell as she stared down at her tea.

“Damn him, honestly,” she muttered. “I’m sorry. That’s so… horrible. It’s really unfair. I hope that any other birthdays you celebrate… I hope maybe one day you can reclaim that one.”

Klaus chewed his bottom lip for a second trying to find the words.

“If you mean Count Olaf, I agree with the sentiment,” he said. “I hope he’s in hell.”

“I thought Jews didn’t believe in hell,” Lola chuckled.

“They don’t,” Klaus confirmed with a smirk. “But there have to be some exceptions to rules.”

Violet gave her brother a knowing smile. He tried to negate eye-contact.

“You know, we have a synagogue here,” Lola told the Baudelaires. “You should visit it before you go.”

“Who said we’re going?” Sunny asked.

“Sunny!” her siblings hissed.

Lola placed down her cup of tea.

“Well, you are welcome to stay,” she told them. “Like I said there are plenty of unoccupied rooms in the above-ground mansion. I could maybe find you a place in The Underground. Or you can leave as soon as sailing is safe. It is completely your choice.”

The Baudelaires contemplated to themselves a moment, then turned their attention back to Lola.

“What about Beatrice?” Violet asked. “I’d feel horrible separating her and Lemony. Especially since they just met.”

“I’d be more than happy to find a way to set up a custody arrangement if you want to leave,” Lola said. “She’d still obviously stay with you 90% of the time, but either you could come here or Lemony can go to the mainland. People barely recognize his face these days, so it should be fine.”

“If we did live here,” Klaus added “it may be difficult for us to integrate. We don’t have access to our fortune still.”

“Fortune schmortune. I’d be happy to find you a place to live and sponsor you if you want to stay,” Lola replied coolly. “You aren’t the only wealthy ones, you know. I don’t know if emancipation would still be an option for you three, but I could maybe get you in contact with my attorney. But, like I said, it’s a process. Not to mention if you think Lemony’s elusive, Mr. Wilk might as well be a ghost. However, if you want jobs, I can put in a good word for you. Like I said, this place is still actively being built, so Violet would fit right in with our engineers. And Klaus could work at either of the libraries or in the Archives in Town Hall. We always need researchers. Sunny and B.B. can just relax and grow up like they’re supposed to.”

“Hey!” Sunny objected.

“I’m not saying you aren’t skilled, Sunshine,” Lola told her. “But in spite of your previous work experience, I’m not expecting a three-year-old to enter the workforce.”

She stood up and began to gather their trash back on the tray.

“Like I said, your choice,” she told them. “Maybe talk about it when you get the chance? There’s no rush.”

She left them to throw their trash away.

The siblings watched as she walked off before turning back to each other.

“Could we live here?” Klaus asked openly.

“Surrounded by V.F.D?” Violet posed uncomfortably.

“Where else would we go?” Sunny asked.

Klaus signaled to his sisters to quiet down as he saw Lola approaching.

“Alright,” she told them with a clap. “Ready to go?”

They got up from their seats and walked with her.

“So, where are we going?” Klaus asked.

“Trying to kill two birds with one stone,” Lola told him. “Hopefully, this will be one stop, but like I said we’re going to get you cleaned up. It’s past three, so I’m hoping the Vandertrampps are home. I know the tailor shop is closed for the day at least.”

“The Vandertrampps?” Violet asked.

“One of the first residents of The Underground,” Lola explained. “Phoebe and Tanya have lived here with their family for a while. Phoebe works as one of the head physicians at the hospital and Tanya owns and operates the town tailor shop. She also has training as a hairdresser if I remember correctly, but if you three are interested in getting haircuts, I’d more likely take you to the actual barber and hairdresser in town. Can’t say I know the folks there quiet as well as I know Dr. and Mrs. Vandertrampp.”

“We noticed,” Sunny teased.

“Hey, you think I like having hair this long?” Lola quipped back. “I do trim it. I just do it myself.”

“If you dislike having long hair, why not cut it?” Violet asked.

“If you dislike having hair in your face, why not wear it in a shorter style?” Lola asked with a smirk.

“Touché,” Violet mumbled, gripping at the ribbon around her neck.

“Violet’s actually been cutting my hair for a while,” Klaus mentioned. “Sunny’s too, but it hasn’t quite grown out enough for anything drastic yet.”

“Hey, I have hair!” Sunny argued.

“Well, now you do,” Violet teased. “We used to have to force a little topknot.”

“Face it, Sun,” Klaus told her. “You were a super bald baby.”

Sunny crossed her arms and pouted with an audible “Hmph” as her siblings teased her.

Lola smiled.

“It’s really nice to see you three actually acting like siblings,” she remarked. “It feels like you three have been stuck in a Shakespearian tragedy for so long you’ve barely had the opportunity to relax enough to do so.”

“That’s probably just a reflection of Lemony’s research,” Klaus explained. “We’ve always been close.”

“If not have gotten closer through everything we’ve been through,” Violet added.

“Not to mention a year on a secluded island with no one else, you bond whether you want to or not,” Klaus agreed.

“Fair enough,” Lola chuckled.

“Do you have siblings somewhere, Lola?” Sunny asked.

“Nope,” she replied. “Lonely only child. Not that my parents didn’t want more children. They were just trying to wait for me to get older so they could adopt. Mama grew up in an orphanage without being adopted, so she wanted to be able to spare someone else from that fate. Not to mention Mama had a blood disorder that made carrying and giving birth to me difficult, if not dangerous.”

She looked at Klaus.

“Are you aware of Stoker’s Syndrome?” she asked.

“Yes,” Klaus replied. “It’s an incredibly rare genetic disorder. It effects iron supply in the blood and causes severe anemia.”

“It also causes light sensitivity and a lack of melanin in the skin, hair, and eyes,” Lola continued. “Makes you super pale, but not to the point of albinism. The poor blood flow also effects the strength of a person’s gums, causing their teeth to look larger to a point of appearing to have protruding canines.”

Sunny glanced up at her.

“My Mama looked a lot like a vampire,” Lola told her with a teasing grin. “She would’ve loved to meet you.”

Sunny grinned widely, showing off her teeth.

Klaus studied Lola for a moment.

“But you don’t look-”

“You didn’t read too far into it, did you?” Lola asked. “Not surprised. It doesn’t get written about very often past medical journals and the occasional book of rare diseases. Like you said, it’s a genetic disorder, but it exists on the X chromosome. My father didn’t have it, so I’m just a carrier. My mother got it from whoever her biological father is, which means her mother was a carrier. I would have it had I been born a boy. If I had a brother, he would have it. If I have a son, he will have it.”

She smiled at Klaus.

“God help the poor soul who wants to marry me, huh?”

He flushed at her accidental implication.

“Anyway, as I was saying before,” Lola continued without notice. “Older children have a harder time being adopted, so Mama and Papa agreed on letting me get a little older before adding to our family. Unfortunately, they never got the chance.”

“You mentioned you have a Godfather,” Violet said. “Godsiblings?”

“Had,” Lola corrected. “I had a Godfather. He died a while ago too.”

 She looked away nonchalantly.

“And we were estranged before that. As far as I’m aware, he never had children. At least, no legitimate ones.”

“I’m sorry to bring it up,” Violet told her.

“No, don’t be,” Lola told her with a halfhearted smile. “I know a lot about you three. It’s only fair you have questions.”

She began to slow her pace.

“Up here on our right.”

They came upon a lovely two-story home with pink window shutters.

Lola walked up to the door and used the lion-shaped knocker.

The door opened to an incredibly pale woman with pink eyes, even her hair was stark white. The sound of children playing followed her from inside.

“Lola!” the woman shouted joyously, rushing to wrap her arms around her. “Privet! How are you?”

“Hey Tanya!” Lola greeted her in return. “I’m doing alright.”

“To what do I owe the pleasure, kotik?” Tanya asked. “We haven’t asked you to watch to boys today, have we?”

“No,” Lola confirmed. “I was wondering if I could ask a favor. You see, my friends here just had a nasty crash on the island. I thought if I brought them here, you could help supply some clean clothes and maybe have Phoebe check them over. I know the tailor shop is closed for the day, but-”

“Da! Da!” Tanya exclaimed. “Of course! Anything for Lola and her dear friends!”

She opened the front door widely and gestured inside.

The children followed her in. The house had lovely decorum in spite of the slight mess. Three younger boys played as they chased each other through the house.

“Nyet! Uspokoit’sya!” Tanya scolded.

The boys came to a halt in the living room, nearly knocking into each other as they did.

“We have guests,” Tanya told them sternly.

Lola shook her head playfully.

“Hello, Miss Lola,” the oldest boy greeted.

“Hello, Foma,” Lola replied.

Lola turned her attention to the Baudelaires.

“Guys, meet most of the Vandertrampp family,” she explained. “This is Tanya, as I mentioned, the town tailor. And these are her and Phoebe’s sons. Foma, the oldest, he’s ten. Carlisle, just turned nine. And-”

“Mamasha!” the youngest shouted, running to his mother. The young boy hid behind her skirt.

Tanya smiled down at him and spoke to him in calming Russian.

“Sorry,” she told her guests. “Mikal is only four and hasn’t been with us for very long. He is still shy.”

“His adoption anniversary is coming up, isn’t it?” Lola asked.

“Da!” Tanya confirmed joyfully. “One year.”

As the boy clung to his mother, his eyes focused on Sunny at her siblings’ side. She squirmed uncomfortably away from his stare.

“Everyone,” Lola continued. “This is Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire. I’d like to commission some new clothes for them. At least a few days’ worth.”

“Baudelaire? Why does that name sound familiar…” Tanya mumbled.

The older boys, Foma and Carlisle, stared at the Baudelaire children with starstruck eyes.

“Mamasha!” Carlisle exclaimed. “Orphans! The orphans from the books!”

The Baudelaires flinched.

“Carlisle!” Tanya scolded. “We do not address people that way!”

She sighed and turned her attention to the Baudelaires.

“I’m sorry,” she told them. “I do remember now. Mr. Snicket’s books.”

She gave her son a glare.

“I swear my sons know better. Being an orphan myself, I would never be alright with that being anyone’s immediate descriptor. Carlisle?”

The boy looked down at his feet in shame.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered.

“Carlisle,” Tanya addressed. “Better.”

The boy took a breath and held his head up to look the Baudelaire children in the eye.

“I’m sorry for calling you orphans first,” he said. He paused for a moment. “But you’re all so cool! Did you really- OW! Mamasha! Foma hit me!”

Foma had elbowed his brother in the ribs with a quick glare.

“They don’t want to talk about those things,” Foma scolded him.

“Foma,” Tanya scolded. “You shouldn’t hurt your brother.” She turned back to Carlisle. “But your brother is right. I’m sure the Baudelaire children want time to rest.”

She pushed Mikal from clinging to her towards his brothers.

“Foma, please take Mikal and Carlisle upstairs. I have work to do.”

“Da, Mamasha,” Foma agreed, taking Mikal by the hand. The three boys made their way up the stairs, the sound of quiet bickering coming from the older two.

Tanya sighed.

“Again, I apologize,” she said. “Mr. Snicket’s writing has a way of catching a younger audience, but I don’t think Carlisle quite understands the severity of your situation.”

She leaned in to examine the Baudelaires better.

“Yes,” she assessed. “I may have something for you three pre-made. Though we may need alterations. Who would like to be measured first? Miss Sunny?”

She pulled down a hook on the wall. The wall rotated to reveal a set of tailor’s mirrors and a short platform.

She pulled her measuring tape from the wall and gestured to the platform.

Sunny looked up at her siblings and received an encouraging nod from Violet. She walked up onto the platform and stood arms-out as Tanya began.

“Really,” Tanya muttered. “You’d think my son would know better.”

“Well, you adopted him as a baby,” Lola said. “He and Foma never really had to live through the orphan experience.”

“Still!” Tanya exclaimed. She reached over and nudged Lola by the chin. “We look out for each other.”

Lola gave a soft smile.

“Da,” she agreed.

“Have you been working on your Russian, kotik?” Tanya teased.

Lola flushed and squirmed.

“Um, do you know when Phoebe will be back?” she asked, changing the subject.

Tanya shook her head at Lola’s avoidance.

“Soon,” she said. “It’s her night for dinner.”

She took a pencil from her pocket and marked something down on a notepad on the wall. She gave Sunny a pat on the head.

“Very good,” she dismissed. She turned to the elder Baudelaires. “Next?”

Sunny stepped down as Violet stepped forward.

“Ah, pretty girl,” Tanya praised as she began.

“Thank you,” Violet flushed. “You’re very beautiful yourself, Mrs. Vandertrampp.”

“Spasiba, zaya,” Tanya praised.

“What does that mean?” Violet asked, unsure.

“‘Thank you, rabbit,’” Tanya translated, giving Violet a playful pinch on her cheek.

Violet couldn’t help but smile.

“I get ‘kitten’ and she gets ‘rabbit?’” Lola asked.

“Oh, now you remember Russian?” Tanya shot back.

Klaus couldn’t help but chuckle at Lola’s expense until she caught his eye, causing him to blush.

Sunny reached up and pulled his hand to refocus his attention. He cleared his throat.

“Your eyes are particularly lovely,” Violet continued with Tanya. “Such an unusual color.”

“Thank you,” Tanya replied. “But it’s unusual to you. Very usual for us Albinos. Please lift your arms.”

Violet did as asked.

A few moments of silence as Tanya focused on her work.

“Would you like any personal commissions while you’re here, Lola?” she asked after a moment.

Lola seemed to snap out of her thoughts.

“Hm? Oh, no. Nothing at the moment.”

Klaus glanced down at the burnt hem of her dress.

“You’re… a regular?” he asked.

Before she could reply, they were interrupted by the sound of the turning doorknob.

A tall woman with long dreadlocks walked through the door wearing a lab coat.

“Ma cherie, I’m home,” she called out.

Her eyes widened as she noticed her full entryway.

“Ah, you have clients!”

“Bonjour, Phoebe!” Lola called out.

“Lola, ma petite fleur!” she chirped, welcoming the young girl in her embrace. She gave Lola an audible kiss on her cheek. “How are you? What brings you?”

“It’s your turn, Klaus,” Tanya reported.

Klaus snapped out of watching the display as he switched places with his sister.

“My friends here crashed on the island earlier,” Lola explained. “I was hoping you and Tanya could check them out and get them cleaned up.”

Lola gestured to her.

“Baudelaires, Doctor Phoebe Vandertrampp. Phoebe, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire.”

“Baudelaire?” Dr. Vandertrampp asked, her accent giving the name more flair. “Are you French?”

“Ah, non,” Klaus replied as Tanya measured him. “Notre nom est Francais mais nous sommes Juifs.”

Lola’s eyes lit up.

“Parle vous Francais?!” she asked excitedly, smiling widely.

“Oui!” Klaus replied, mimicking her enthusiasm. “J’ai appris dans les livres!”

“J’ai appris de ma Mamon!” Lola chirped.

“Your mother spoke French?” Klaus asked. “Was she French like your father was Italian?”

“No,” Lola clarified. “She learned when she was young and taught me as a way of bonding. Did you teach yourself an entire language just from books?”

“You’d be surprised how much French you run across in literature,” Klaus said bashfully. “More convenient just to learn it than to constantly look up what phrases mean.”

Phoebe and Tanya exchanged knowing smiles at the exchange.

“Your pronunciation is very good,” Phoebe praised. “Tres clair.”

“Merci,” Klaus replied.

“How many languages do you speak, Lola?” Sunny asked.

“Fluently?” Lola asked. “Just the three.”

“And yet she slacks on her Russian,” Tanya grumbled.

“I speak it,” Lola corrected. “Just very brokenly.”

“Mm,” Tanya confirmed in a snarky tone. She marked down in her notes and patted Klaus’s arm. “You are done, sir.”

Klaus stepped down from the platform as Tanya stood and examined her notes.

“I will be right back,” she muttered.

“Come,” Dr. Vandertrampp told the Baudelaires. “Let me examine you.”

The siblings walked up to her as Tanya left the room.

Dr. Vandertrampp took a small flashlight from her coat pocket.

“Bright light,” she warned.

One by one she shown the light in their eyes to watch their pupils.

“Any forms of dizziness? Nausea?”

All responses were in the negative.

“Alright, no signs of concussion.”

She looked to Lola.

“You know you should have brought them for medical exam first,” she lightly scolded.

Lola looked away, embarrassed.

“Any forms of pain?” Dr. Vandertrampp asked the Baudelaires.

“General achiness,” Violet said. “But I’ve noticed we can all move well enough.”

“Do I have your permission to touch you?” she asked.

The three gave open consent. She gently prodded their bodies and skin, noting the slight flinches but nothing more.

“Other than slight bruising,” she observed “you seem to be alright. Very lucky after going through a storm. If there are any worsening symptoms, I encourage you to come to the Underground hospital.”

She saw Violet flinch.

“Or Lola could call me for a house call if hospitals cause discomfort,” she corrected. “Is there anything that any of you would need to have me privately examine?”

The Baudelaires exchanged looks.

“No ma’am,” Klaus told her.

“We should’ve brought B.B. down here,” Sunny said.

“Sunny,” Violet warned.

“Beatrice,” Sunny corrected.

“Who is this?” Dr. Vandertrampp asked.

“Our adopted daughter,” Klaus answered. “She’s one.”

“One?” she asked, her eyes widened. “Lola?”

“She was honestly in the best shape when I found them onshore,” Lola explained. “No bruises. No odd behavior. Right now, she’s aboveground with her uncle.”

“You will bring her in for a check-up tomorrow morning,” she scolded. “Or I will come up.”

She looked down at Sunny.

“While you are here, how old are you?” she asked. “Are you caught up on your inoculations?”

“I’m three,” Sunny replied. “Inoculations?”

“Immunizations,” she explained. “Erm… Shots?”

Sunny squealed in fright and hid herself behind her sister.

“Actually,” Violet said, looking at Klaus “Sunny hasn’t had her vaccinations in a while.”

“And B.B. hasn’t at all,” Klaus said. He received a glare from his sister. “I meant Beatrice. But whether we stay here or move on, she’ll need them if she’s going to be around a lot of people.”

“I don’t want a shot!” Sunny shouted.

“They’re important,” Violet told her. “We don’t want you and B.B. to get sick.”

Lola chuckled under her breath.

“What?” Violet asked.

She saw her siblings smirking at her.

She took a moment to realize.

“Gah!” she shouted. “I meant Beatrice!”

Klaus and Sunny shared a laugh at their sister’s expense.

Lola smiled at her small victory.

“If you will allow,” Dr. Vandertrampp suggested. “I can look at my appointment book and have a date settled to bring in both girls.”

“Wait,” Lola interrupted. “The girls need their inoculations, I agree. But the Baudelaire family hasn’t made up their minds on if they want to stay on the island. Making an appointment like that would give them a set time to be forced to stay. I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

Klaus and Violet exchanged a look. Klaus had a slight pleading to his eyes.

“Lola,” Phoebe called her gently. “Bebe, ecoute-”

“I don’t think it’s a bad idea,” Violet interrupted.

Lola looked at her questioningly.

“It’s our choice, isn’t it?” Violet asked. “Staying a bit longer to make sure Sunny and Beatrice are healthy won’t hurt anything.”

“You’re sure?” Lola asked.

“Completely,” Klaus confirmed. “If you’ll have us?”

Lola blinked a few times at them, then relaxed her guard.

“Yeah,” she agreed, giving them a smile. “Of course you three are welcome. We’ll just keep watching the doppler past the appointment date.”

“Should I call when it’s confirmed?” Phoebe asked.

“Oui,” Lola said.

Tanya reentered the room with a flourish, arms filled with clothing.

“I have options!” she announced. “Your sizes or close enough. I will alter what doesn’t fit.”

The Baudelaires rushed over to see.

“These are so nice,” Violet complimented.

“Definitely stylish,” Klaus agreed. “Love the blue jacket.”

“Haven’t you worn enough blue?” Sunny asked him teasingly.

“What?” Klaus asked. “I like blue. And I didn’t wear it that much.”

“I swear all my memories are of you in blue,” she argued.

“Miss Violet will be pleased to find that her clothing has spacious pockets for her ribbons and other such things,” Tanya told them.

“Pockets?!” Violet asked excitedly, sticking her hand inside.

Klaus laughed.

“I feel like I haven’t seen you that excited in ages!”

Lola smiled at the trio enjoying themselves. She let out a soft sigh.

“Lola?” Phoebe asked.

She looked over, taking advantage of the Baudelaire family’s distraction.

“Are you alright?” Phoebe continued. “You don’t usually follow the newcomers. I understand they’re attached to your mentor, but…”

“It’s fine, Phoebe,” Lola told her in hushed tones. “You read the books too, didn’t you? I just wanted to see that they’re okay.”

The doctor paused and glanced her over.

“How is your pain today?” she asked calmly.

“I’m fine,” Lola replied.

“Do they know?” Phoebe asked.

“They don’t need to right now, do they?” Lola asked back.

“Lola!” Sunny excitedly chirped as she ran to her. She held out a dress. “Look! There’s sunflowers on this one!”

“Oh, that’s so cute!” Lola replied. She looked to Tanya. “Little soft for her, though. You should make her one with little sharks.”

Sunny’s eyes lit up.

“Yeah!” she cheered, slight bounce in her step. “How long would sharks take?!”

“Trying to extend our stay, Lola?” Klaus chuckled.

“Eh, maybe,” Lola replied with a playful roll of the eyes. “That an issue, babe?”

Klaus flushed deeply.

“B-babe?” he stuttered.

Violet rolled her eyes as she walked over to them with the bags Tanya had given them.

“We should get going soon,” she said. “We have to get back to Beatrice, and we shouldn’t impose on the Vandertrampp family too much longer.”

“You got it, darling,” Lola told her. “Tanya, let me know when the bill’s ready.”

“No bill,” Tanya told her. “This one is free. Premade pieces. Consider it an orphan looking out for her own.”

The Baudelaires smiled softly.

“Fine,” Lola agreed. “But I’m insisting on paying for any alterations. Phoebe, I’ll be on the lookout for that call.”

“Oui,” Phoebe agreed. “Safe travels. Say ‘Hello’ to Monsieur Snicket for us.”

“Try to get home before the night lights come on,” Tanya continued. “We don’t want you four walking home in the dark.”

“And don’t forget to bring that baby for a check-up!” Phoebe scolded.

“Cross my heart,” Lola swore, making the motion over her chest. “I’ll see you two later. Tell the boys I said ‘Bye.’”

“Au revoir, Baudelaires. Lola,” Phoebe told them.

“Please come by again,” Tanya added.

One last wave before Lola and the Baudelaires were out the door.

“Alright,” Lola said. “‘To the ramparts’ as Lemony would say.”

“Thank you for taking us out, Lola,” Violet said as they began the journey back. “It was really refreshing after all this time.”

“Don’t mention it,” Lola told her. “It was really nothing.”

“Why was the Vandertrampp boy so weird?” Sunny asked.

“You mean Carlisle?” Lola asked. “Don’t mind him. Like Tanya said, he just doesn’t really-”

“No, the little one,” Sunny corrected.

“Oh, Mikal,” Lola assessed. “Well, firstly, he’s older than you. Secondly, I think he might just like you, Sunshine.”

“Ew!” Sunny shouted.

The teenagers giggled at the outrage.

“Calm down, Sunny,” Lola told her. “It’s a crush, not marriage.”

“You don’t even have to reciprocate,” Klaus told her. “He’ll get over it.”

“I don’t know,” Lola hummed. “From what I hear, you Baudelaires have some magical property about you that makes you hard to get over.”

His eyes widened. This girl just couldn't keep the blood from rushing to his face.

“And where did you hear that, Miss Collins?” he asked.

“You expect me to give up all my sources, Mr. Baudelaire?” she teased.

He ran his fingers through his hair in nervous habit.

“You don’t have to be so formal, you know,” he said.

“What?” she laughed. “Come now, Klaus, I thought we had a little game going.”

“No,” he corrected. “Earlier when we were speaking in French. You addressed me with the formal ‘vous.’ I think we’re on friendly enough terms for ‘tu’ after today, don’t you think?”

Her eyes widened slightly, a faint blush of her own forming as she was caught off guard.

She smiled at him.

“I suppose so,” she agreed.

Sunny looked between the two before grabbing for Lola’s hand, acting as a bridge between the girl and her brother.

Lola flinched at suddenly being grabbed.

“Um?”

“Violet’s hands are full,” Sunny reminded her. “Your turn.”

Lola and Klaus looked down at her questioningly. They looked up and caught each other’s eyes before turning away quickly, slight flush on their faces.

Violet rolled her eyes behind them with a slight smile.

Chapter 3:

“Um, Lemony, any particular reason all your dedications are to our mother?”

Lemony froze in his seat, eyes wide. His niece gave him a few pats on his chest as she sat in his lap, babbling for his attention.

He rubbed the back of his neck nervously at Klaus’s questioning.

“I was… hoping you would skip those,” he admitted.

“Yeah…” Klaus noted. “Well, after the first one I thought perhaps I’d eventually find a few dedicated to our father as well. But I can’t ignore they’re all “to Beatrice.’”

“Not to mention the constant waxing poetic about our mother with only a few fond mentions of our father,” Violet pointed out uncomfortably. “That’s within the book itself. Can’t skip that.”

“Do you have a crush on our mom?” Sunny asked, disgusted.

“Worse!” Lola announced cheerfully. “He dated your mom!”

“Lola!” Lemony shouted at her.

“They were even briefly engaged,” Lola laughed.

She dodged quickly as he grabbed for her, snatching his hat in the process.

She placed it on herself with theatrical gusto.

“Now, what was that you said?” Lola asked. She straightened herself up and performed with her voice in a lower register. “I will love you if I never see you again, and I will love you if I see you every Tuesday…”

She trailed off a bit.

“Something, something, love you as misfortune loves orphans… as fire loves innocence…” she fell back into her normal inflection. “Something about secret compartments and code breaking and anagrams… I don’t know, Snicket. You went on for pages! I’m pretty sure I didn’t even start in the right place.”

Lemony jolted with a flush.

“How did you-?!”

“You really should lock up your stuff better.”

“You little menace!” Lemony shouted, his face red with anger. He thrusted his niece into the lap of the closest Baudelaire and lunged for Lola. She almost seemed to dance as she dodged his steps, giggling as she did so, her hand firmly keeping Lemony’s fedora in place.

“Maybe, B.B. isn’t such a bad nickname after all,” Violet conceded as she held her ward closer to her during the chaos.

As Lemony went to grab her, Lola took her opening to launch herself over the back of couch and into Klaus’s lap. She snuggled herself firmly into the flustered boy while giving Lemony a teasing grin. Lemony stood there gritting his teeth.

“Now, you wouldn’t go through him to get to me, would you?” she teased with a flutter of her lashes.

Lemony allowed himself an angry growl at the girl and held his hand out insistently.

Lola rolled her eyes and handed him his hat back. He placed it on and straightened his coat.

“That was completely uncalled for,” he muttered.

“You make it too easy, Lemonbar,” Lola teased back.

“Hmph,” he sighed as he willed the flush from his face. “Fine! Yes, Beatrice was my childhood sweetheart. A phrase which here means ‘we met during our recruitment days.’ We were together for almost fifteen years, engaged during the last. However, certain circumstances lead to her breaking our engagement by letter and soon after was when I went into hiding.”

“Thus begins a twenty-year-long stint of pining,” Lola added mockingly.

“When you dedicate yourself to someone for so long, it isn’t easy to forget them,” Lemony defended calmly. He held himself tightly by the lapels of his coat, feeling exposed. “I can’t help still having feelings after all this time.”

“I’m sorry to interrupt, Lemony,” Violet told him. She turned her attention to Lola. “Are you done using my brother as a human shield?”

Lola took notice of her position.

Klaus’s heart was beating out of his chest at the pretty girl in his lap.

“I’d argue he’s more of a human sanctuary,” said Lola “but I do see your point.”

She climbed off of him and gave him a pat on the head.

“Sor-ry~,” she told him, singsong.

“It’s fine,” he replied obviously holding his breath. He shook himself from his nerves. “Is that what you meant when you said Baudelaires are ‘hard to get over?’”

“The very same,” Lola confirmed. “Decades past, and he’s still obsessed.”

“I am not obsessed!” Lemony defended.

“Dude,” Lola sighed. “You heard she died, and you stalked her kids for a year to cope with it.”

Lemony froze. He squirmed as he couldn’t find a defense.

“Ew…” Sunny muttered, breaking the tension. “I don’t want that Mikal kid to love me until we’re grown up. I don’t want him to love me at all!”

“Relax,” Lola chuckled. “You’re little kids. I mostly said that as a joke.”

“All that being said,” said Violet “I have to admit, in spite of obviously still being in love with her, I admire that you seem to have no animosity towards our mother. She didn’t even break up with you in person after over a decade together?”

“Or our father,” Klaus pointed out, somewhat astonished. “There’s no way he didn’t see every bit of your relationship, and he still pursued his cousin’s ex-fiancée?”

“We keep finding out how cruel they could be,” Sunny said with a frown.

Lemony sighed.

“That isn’t a fair assessment,” he said. “None of our hands are clean. Your mother… she wanted out after everything that had happened and being with me prevented that. As for Bertrand, how could I be upset? He did what I couldn’t. He made her happy. And seeing Beatrice happy was all I ever wanted for her. I love both your parents deeply. I don’t think I could be angry with them even if I really wanted to.”

Violet turned to Lola.

“That’s why you didn’t want to call her Beatrice, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Lola confirmed. “The context to that name is too strongly routed in my head. I’ve heard Lemony say it over and over again since I was eleven.”

Violet glanced down at the child in her arms.

“B.B.?” she tried.

She turned at hearing herself be addressed and smiled widely at her adoptive mother.

“Vi!” she happily exclaimed.

Violet smiled and gave her a quick kiss on her forehead.

She gave Lemony a raised brow. He in turn responded by rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

“It may have been difficult for me to use her proper name as well,” he admitted.

“I can understand why,” she conceded. “But she seems to be answering to it fine, so I can get used to it.”

B.B. happily laughed and giggled in Violet’s lap, causing Lemony to relax. He sat back down across from them, a soft smile on his face.

“I suppose we should actually talk about your research itself,” Violet said without looking at him.

Lemony jolted.

“I… er…”

“I wouldn’t say it’s totally inaccurate,” Klaus added. “In fact, the majority is true, but there are some things you missed the mark on. Unsure if that’s due to your insertions of personal anecdotes or if you just had misinformed sources. Though, to be frank, outside of that extra chapter you mentioned, the misinformation is so far in-between and rare that edits may not be totally necessary or worth it.”

“Then, of course there are the parts he’d have no idea happened,” Violet said. “But maybe having every bit of information out in the open is unnecessary. I actually appreciate the moments of privacy he’s purposefully allowed.”

“What are you saying?” Lemony asked.

“That you’re an unreliable narrator, but they think it’s a benefit?” Lola suggested. “That’s what I’m getting.”

“Precisely,” Sunny replied.

“Oh,” Lemony said.

“We could discuss rewrites and fill in gaps, if you’d like,” Klaus suggested. “But with mass production and everyone knowing the bulk anyway, we may just need to accept the narrative as is.”

He turned to Lola.

“How far outside the Organization do the books syndicate?”

“Quite a ways,” Lola explained. “Though, they’re labelled as fictions. The absurdist nature of a lot of the events that took place help pass it as such. Lemony has his ‘these books are depressing’ warning on the back of all of them, so that helps keep readership down. I personally see to it that they don’t enter any library systems that have not been previously pre-approved, ones that are usually V.F.D owned or sanctioned anyway. I can almost guarantee that you have a very select audience, Baudelaires.”

“No bookstores?” Klaus asked.

“I refuse to profit from your misfortunes,” Lemony replied.

“Same here,” Lola said. “I publish them at personal loss. It was never about money. It was always about you.”

Violet let out her breath.

“Strange to hear someone say that,” she said.

“Hey, Lem and I don’t want or need your money,” Lola told her. “If either of us wanted profits from the series, it would be 100% out of reparations to you three.”

“You don’t owe us anything,” Violet retorted.

“Don’t we?” Lemony argued.

The silence that followed was so loud.

“Okay,” Lola announced. “Maybe we’ve dwelled on this too long. Klaus is right that you can discuss this later. We still need to get you settled in the upstairs rooms. At least for the next few days or a week or so. Depends on when Phoebe gets back to me as well as the doppler. If you decide to stay, we can find something more permanent. Either setting up the rooms upstairs with more permanent features or finding an Underground residence for you three. Wherever you guys are comfortable. And if you choose to leave, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”

She made her way to the library exit, willing others to follow behind. Klaus took B.B. from his sister’s lap and followed, as did Sunny.

Violet got up from her seat shortly after. As Lemony reached the door, she stopped him as the others went on.

“Lemony, can I ask you a few more things?” she asked.

“Of course,” he replied. “Anything.”

“Klaus is named after our paternal grandfather. He must have passed long before either of us were born,” she said.

“Yes,” Lemony confirmed. “He and your paternal grandmother. Your father lost both his parents at a young age. He came to live with my family, my parents, siblings, and I, after the accident.”

Violet pursed her lips.

“Do you know who I was named after?” she asked cautiously.

He sighed.

“Your maternal grandmother,” he answered. “Your mother’s mother.”

“Did you know her?” she asked.

“Unfortunately, no,” Lemony told her. “Your grandmother passed away before your mother met me.”

“Both of our parents were orphans?” Violet asked.

“No,” Lemony told her. “Just your father. For all that I know, your maternal grandfather may still be alive. But your mother estranged herself from him when we were teenagers so it may be best to keep it that way.”

“Did you know him?” Violet asked.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Lemony replied. “He and your mother had a very tumultuous relationship, a phrase which here means…” He hesitated for a moment. “Well, your mother had good reason not to talk about him. And he did not approve of me very much. I sincerely hope Bertrand never had to deal with him. Why do you ask?”

“It’s just…” she trailed off. “I’m realizing more and more as time goes on that Mom and Dad just completely kept us in the dark about their families. Our family. I just wanted some answers from someone who would have them.”

He hesitated, then placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Any time you need answers, I will have them,” he assured her. “I promise you that.”

“And if I ask you something about my mom you wouldn’t want to admit?” she asked.

His face twisted in uncertainty as he couldn’t answer.

She sighed.

“At least you’re honest,” she said. “But I can come to you about questions I have about our family?”

“Of course,” he promised. “Your siblings as well.”

She paused.

“It’s a start,” she said.

“Let’s go meet everyone else, yeah?” Lemony asked gently. “I’m sure they’re wondering about the hold up.”

They headed off to meet everyone standing at the bottom of the stairs.

“What’s this door lead to?” Klaus asked, pointing to the door near the bottom of the stairs.

“Lem’s office,” Lola told him. “He’s got a desk in his room, but I guess a dark, windowless room helps his brooding.”

“Don’t talk about me like I’m a melodramatic teenager,” Lemony scolded her as he approached.

“I call ‘em like I see ‘em,” she shot back.

She stepped onto the stairs behind her.

“Let’s go, nerds.”

“Bold moniker for someone who can name Broadway musicals in alphabetical order,” Lemony muttered as he followed behind her.

The Baudelaire family followed behind them.

“What was the holdup?” Sunny asked her sister.

“Just had a few follow-up questions for Lemony,” Violet told her. “I’ll fill you both in later.”

The group convened at the top of the stairs.

“Okay,” Lola said. “First door over here on the left is the upstairs bathroom. Other than the one in my room. The downstairs one is actually under the staircase. Most of the right side of the hall is empty.” She indicated back to the left side of the hall. “Empty, empty, my room, empty, empty, and the last door on the left is Lemony’s room. Far away from civilization because, you know, hermit.”

“Stop calling me a hermit,” Lemony protested.

“Leave my house sometimes and maybe I will,” Lola replied. “Anyway, all of these rooms are open for the taking. If there’s no sign on it, go ahead and claim it.”

Lemony nudged her.

“Ow, what?”

He silently indicated to B.B. on Klaus’s hip.

She looked up at Lemony questioningly before her eyes widened in realization. Her expression fell.

“Oh yeah,” she muttered. “One room is already set up.”

She motioned for Klaus to follow her. All would follow.

The Baudelaires took notice of Lemony’s sullen face.

The group passed the mostly empty rooms. One room in the middle of the hall was clearly labeled with Lola’s name on a placard as if to mimic a dressing room. Across the hall was a door labelled only with a large wooden star.

They approached the end of the hall, stopping at the door right before the one labeled with the intricately painted L.S.

She placed her hand on the knob of the unlabeled door and let out a sigh.

Lemony placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to give a slight flinch.

“Would you rather I opened it?” he asked.

“No,” she told him. “I can do this. Kit’s been gone for a while. She wouldn’t want us to be stuck in the past.”

She took a deep breath and opened the door.

Inside was a neatly kept room. It may have seen life before, but not for a long time. A wooden crib sat untouched near the adult-sized bed. A few toys and other child items scattered about.

On the walls, small remnants of maps and photographs. A personal bookshelf sat nearby, unchanged from its last use. Ghosts of the woman who once lived there.

“We didn’t take everything out,” Lemony mentioned, his voice caught in his throat.

“I couldn’t,” Lola admitted solemnly. “It would be too real.”

She turned back to the Baudelaire family.

“This is B.B.’s room,” she told them. “Well, Kit’s room. Jacques’s is on the other side. Kit was trying to make up her mind if she and Dewey Denouement would stay in the above ground mansion with Lemony and me or if they’d stay in the Underground City. Either way, she already had some things set up so she and her baby would have a room together. At least for a while.”

Unthinkingly, she moved to take the child from Klaus’s arms.

B.B. looked up at her with those innocent big, brown eyes. Her mother’s eyes.

Lola’s face twisted in despair.

“I knew it,” she sobbed softly, tears pricked in her eyes. “I knew if she left, she wouldn’t come back.”

Lemony moved to support the girls in case Lola collapsed.

“It isn’t your fault,” he urged her calmly.

“Why didn’t she listen?” Lola whimpered, tears streaming down her face.

She looked up to see Lemony’s expression.

As quickly as she had fallen apart, she pulled herself back together.

She stood up straight, gently knocking Lemony away from holding her, took a breath, and wiped her tears away.

She placed a smile the best she could and looked little B.B. in the eyes again.

“No time for that right now,” she muttered.

The little one looked up at her with a tilt of her head.

“Lola,” Lemony tried to coax.

“I’m fine,” she lied.

“Lola,” Violet tried to coax. “If this is too hard right now-”

“I am fine,” Lola repeated. She turned to Lemony. “Are you okay?”

Lemony paused for a moment.

“I’m alright, Lola,” he assured her carefully.

“Good,” she replied. She held B.B. up higher on her hip. “Look B.B., your mama got you your own bed. There’s a picture of her up there on the wall with your Uncle Jacques. You’re so pretty just like her.”

Lemony turned away from the display, fighting his own emotional outburst.

The Baudelaires watched on, not knowing whether to comfort or let them grieve in peace.

Lola sighed.

“Obviously we keep the crib,” she said, ignoring her previous feelings. “Not sure what to do about the bed.”

Sunny walked over and placed her hand on Lola’s arm.

“I could stay with B.B.” she offered.

Lola flinched as she was pulled from her thoughts.

“What?” she asked. “Sunny, you could have you own room. There’s more than enough.”

“But I could sleep in the bed, and she can sleep in her crib,” Sunny explained. “I don’t like sleeping alone anyway.”

“B.B. does sleep through the night,” Violet said. “So, she wouldn’t keep Sunny up.”

“And Lemony is right next door,” Klaus added. “If something happened, he would hear.”

“Actually, every room in this house has extensive soundproofing in the walls,” Lemony corrected, tapping on the wall near him. “But that’s even more reason for B.B. to have a roommate. Sunny could come get someone if need be.”

Sunny reached to tap B.B.’s leg for her attention.

“Sun!” B.B. chirped happily.

“Siree Sunny bebbud?” Sunny asked with a grin.

B.B.’s eyes widened as she began to bounce excitedly in Lola’s arms.

“Ih! Ih! B.B. bebbud!” she shouted back.

“Um…” Lola stuttered as she struggled not to drop the squirming baby. “I was under the impression Sunny grew out of the babytalk.”

“She did,” Klaus told her, moving to assist her. “That’s not babytalk. It’s cryptophasia.”

“Cryptophasia?”

“It’s when-”

“It’s when two people are so close that they end up developing a nonsense language,” Lola finished the thought. “I know what it is. But doesn’t that only happen in multiples?”

Violet shrugged.

“In this case, no.”

“Can I at least get a translation?” Lola asked.

Klaus and Violet gave her an unsure look.

“You don’t know?!”

By this time, B.B. had managed to squirm herself free, though luckily a short enough distance to the floor. She clambered and crawled to hug Sunny tightly.

Lola stood, exasperated.

“Gee, thanks for the help, Snicket!” she spat in Lemony’s direction.

He squinted at her and threw his hands up in exasperation, wondering what he was meant to do in that situation.

She turned her attention back to Klaus and Violet.

“How do you two not know? Aren’t you the leading experts on Sunnyisms?”

“They aren’t Sunnyisms,” Violet explained again. “We have no idea what they’re saying to each other.”

“These days we ask Sunny to translate for us,” Klaus added.

They all looked over at Sunny, who had sat down on the floor to play B.B. with more easily.

“I asked if she’d like a roommate,” Sunny explained, handing B.B. a toy. “Obviously, she’s excited for it.”

B.B. sat happily babbling as she smacked the toy repeatedly on the floor. She seemed to become very focused as she addressed Sunny directly.

“Joy nowcay,” she said. “Gar Lo.”

“Ot tu Lemony?” Sunny asked.

Lemony’s brow raised at hearing his name.

“Ha ha. Joy oi,” B.B. replied with a wide smile.

The older crowd looked at Sunny expectantly.

“What?” she asked.

“A translation, please?” Lemony asked.

Sunny shrugged.

“Mind your business.”

“But… You said my name.”

“Relax,” Sunny told him. “She likes you. Lola too.”

“Okay now I’m worried that I was mentioned and didn’t even notice,” Lola told her.

Sunny gave her a cheeky grin.

“That’s unsettling,” Lola told her nonchalantly.

“You get used to it,” Klaus told her.

“Siree nowcay op?” Sunny asked B.B.

“Ih!” B.B. replied excitedly.

Sunny stood, chin up and walked haughtily past her siblings.

“Well, B.B. and I are in agreement,” she said. “Just gotta catch you two up.”

“Wait,” Violet said, quickly following behind her. “What did you two agree on?”

Klaus gave Lola a smile and shrug, a gesture she returned, before following his sisters into the hall.

B.B. lifted her arms towards Lemony, asking to be picked up.

He picked her up and she pointed at him with a wide smile.

“Lem!” she chirped.

He smiled down at her.

“Yes, dear,” he told her. “Uncle Lemony is right here.”

Lola smiled at him and gestured for the two of them to join everyone back in the hall.

“So that’s your room,” Klaus said to Lola, pointing to her placard. He pointed to the room across the hall with the star. “What’s that room?”

“Oh,” Lola noted. “That’s my music room.”

She reached to open the door.

Inside was a room with a polished wooden floor, one wall covered in mirrors with a dancing bar. In the middle sat a black grand piano with a closed lid. A small sitting area stood nearby. A few guitars hung securely on the far wall.

“Oh, wow,” Sunny muttered.

“It used to double as Mama’s dance studio,” Lola explained. “If you can’t find me, I’m probably working on a composition in here. Or just playing for fun.”

“You compose?” Klaus asked, fascinated.

“Yeah,” Lola told him. “I write, read, perform… I have a lot of my own music.”

“She’s being a bit modest. A word which here means she’s selling herself short,” Lemony interjected. “She sings, she dances, plays piano and guitar. Lola is incredibly talented.”

A slight flush came to her dark skin.

“Laying it on thick there, Lem,” she told him as she rubbed the back of her neck nervously.

“I’m only stating the truth,” he argued kindly. “You should prepare yourselves for a house filled with music, Baudelaires.”

“Now that feels like a dig,” Lola snarled at him.

“You know it isn’t,” Lemony scolded. “Why don’t you play them something?”

“What?!” Lola balked. “Now?”

“Since when have you turned down the opportunity to perform?” Lemony asked.

“Since when do you put people on the spot like that?” she asked in return.

He smirked down at her.

Her eyes widened, then her face fell into an exasperated expression.

“Oh,” she said, annoyed. “It’s payback, isn’t it?”

Lemony added a raised brow to his smirk.

Lola sighed and made her way to the piano bench.

She brushed her hair away as she sat down. Klaus noticed that discoloration again, this time extending further down her back, before her hair fell back down.

“Fine,” muttered Lola. “Any requests?”

“One of your original works?” Lemony suggested.

“How about a rendition of Cry Me A River?” Lola retorted.

“Ah,” Lemony mused. “My favorite song. You can’t be that upset with me then, can you?”

Lola gave him a smirk over her shoulder.

She straightened her posture and rolled her fingers along the keys.

She cracked her wrists, her knuckles, her elbows-

“Lola, that’s a disgusting habit!” Lemony scolded.

“You want your song or not?” Lola shouted back, annoyed.

Lemony rolled his eyes with an exasperated sigh.

She readjusted herself and began to play.

A lovely slow jazz tune.

Her voice began to fill the room.

Now you say you're lonely
You cried the long night through
Well, you can cry me a river
Cry me a river
I cried a river over you

Her voice was warm and elegant. It enveloped the room like a comforting fog and held her audience captive.

All three Baudelaire children could feel the heat in their faces as they watched and heard her.

Now you say you're sorry
For being so untrue
Well, you can cry me a river
Cry me a river
'Cause I cried, I cried, I cried a river over you

She bent backwards to look at Lemony as she continued to play.

“Care to join me for the chorus, Mr. Snicket?” she smiled.

He rolled his eyes with a pleased smile and handed his niece off to Violet.

He stood closely behind her as he joined in his deep baritone.

You drove me, nearly drove me, out of my head
While you never shed a tear

Lola never skipped a beat to sing.

Remember, I remember, all that you said

You told me love was too plebeian

Told me you were through with me and

The two seamlessly harmonized together as Lemony gently placed his hands on Lola’s shoulders.

Now you say, you say you love me
Well, just to prove you do
Come on and cry me a river, cry me a river
Cause I cried a river over you

Lola turned quickly with gusto, giving Lemony his cue.

“And now, an accordion solo!” she announced.

“Absolutely not!” Lemony laughed.

Lola shrugged.

“Eh, worth a shot.”

The Baudelaires stood there speechless at the performance.

The silence was broken at the cheerful shriek B.B. released as she clapped wildly.

A slow smile creeped on Sunny’s face as she began to clap as well, slowly but surely being joined by her siblings. First Klaus, then Violet.

“Brava!” Violet cheered.

“Bravissima!” Klaus agreed.

Lola gave a pleased giggle.

She stood and gave a theatrical bow from the waist.

She grinned widely at their applause, then stood up straight and motioned like a conductor for them to stop.

“Okay, okay,” she motioned. “Back to the matter at hand. Klaus and Violet still need a place to stay. Let’s pick you guys some rooms, then discuss what we’re doing for dinner.”

“Can I help?” Sunny asked excitedly.

Lola placed her hand to her chest as if she were breathless.

“Help in the kitchen from the great chef Sunny Baudelaire?” she asked with astonishment. “Why I’d be honored, Sunshine!”

Sunny laughed.

“You’re too much,” she told her.

“I’ve been called worse,” Lola replied with a smirk. “Come on. Onwards.”

Chapter 4:

It was the calmest day they’d had outside of themselves in years.

There, of course, were more awkward conversations, but there were also bouts of songs and jokes and smiles.

They had a lovely dinner prepared by Lola and Sunny as Violet and Klaus shared stories of the first year of B.B.’s life with her uncle.

“So, why do you think she refers to you as ‘Kla,’” Lemony asked, fascinating his niece by waving his hat around.

“That is a fantastic question,” Klaus replied. “My name is one syllable, and yet it’s still shortened.”

“Maybe it’s an issue with the ‘au’ sound in your name,” Lola suggested.

She popped the fork into her mouth and audibly slurped her noodles.

“That’s disgusting,” Lemony told her.

“Vaffanculo,” Lola replied smoothly. “I’m Italian. You eat spaghetti with a slurp. Not cut the noodles like a freak.”

Lemony rolled his eyes.

“You’ve never even been to Italy,” he pointed out.

“Yeah, well, Papa left for a reason,” Lola retorted. “And don’t act like the closest you’ve been to Italy isn’t the time you almost drowned in an Italian restaurant.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask about that!” Sunny exclaimed.

“It’s a long story,” Lemony told her.

Eating together like that, knowing there were warm beds upstairs, it was so comforting.

And yet Klaus still couldn’t sleep that night.

Not too unusual, falling asleep had been difficult for him for over a year now. Staying asleep as well.

It wasn’t just the nightmares.

He was sure Sunny and Violet had problems with those too.

But there was an even more disheartening prospect.

What if he fell asleep, and woke up to find out every nice moment was a lie?

He wakes up, 12 again, staring at the ceiling of a lumbermill. Or an old crab-infested shack. Or a jail cell, awaiting execution.

A paranoid and irrational thought, but one that was worse than the nightmares.

Now he lay there, staring at a new ceiling in an unfamiliar home of a stranger he still had several questions about.

And yet he was scared this day would be one of the ones that would vanish.

He reached for his glasses on the bedside table. The book he’d borrowed from Lola’s library hadn’t calmed his nerves enough. He thought he’d try again.

He left the room he’d chosen, contemplating knocking on the door to the next room where Violet had chosen.

His face became warm at the thought he could also knock on the door on the other side to see if Lola was awake.

He kicked himself a bit for picking the room next to hers. As if he wasn’t already worried about making a fool of himself.

He turned to make his way to the stairs, only to catch the wooden star across the hall out of the corner of his eye.

Surely, he thought, there’s no way she is awake. If she were, she wouldn’t be in her music room, right?

Against his better judgement, he approached curiously.

As his hand touched the handle of the knob, he heard the very faintest sounds of a piano through the door.

The walls were soundproof, not the doors.

Noted.

He opened the door cautiously to peek inside, hoping not to alert her.

She sat at her piano, playing an unfamiliar melody, in that same red dress from earlier.

He tried to make himself scarce. Shut the door quickly and leave without interrupting her but-

“Klaus,” she called out without turning around. She’d stopped playing. “In or out, dude. I don’t want to wake everyone up.”

His eyes widened in surprise, and he quickly pulled himself inside and shut the door, face flushed in embarrassment.

“How did you know it was me?” he asked.

“Saw your reflection in the ballet mirror,” Lola explained as she turned around. “What’s up? Couldn’t sleep?”

“Um, no,” he replied. “I couldn’t.”

Lola shrugged and turned herself back to the keys. Gently pressing her fingers to them as not to make any sound.

“Join the club. I sleep like garbage too,” she told him.

She looked over her shoulder at him and looked him up and down with a smirk.

“You do look good in blue,” she told him.

Klaus furrowed his brow in confusion before looking himself over, only to be mortified to remember he was standing in front of a pretty girl in his pajamas. New pajamas that fit him well, but pajamas, nonetheless.

He began to stutter and stumble over his words.

She glanced back at him again.

“Hey, don’t sweat it,” she coaxed. “Not like either one of us is presentable.”

“What do you mea-”

“I caught you staring at my dress, Klaus,” she answered bluntly.

He froze.

She sighed and turned herself back around on her piano bench. She patted the spot next to her.

“Come on,” she told him. “We both can’t sleep, and you have more questions.”

Klaus sheepishly made his way over and sat down next to her. He opened his mouth to speak but couldn’t find the words. He squirmed a bit, nervously.

“The dress was my mother’s,” Lola answered bluntly.

“What?” Klaus asked.

“The dress I’m wearing,” Lola repeated. “It belonged to my Mama.”

“Oh,” Klaus replied. “Why is it-”

“Burned?” Lola asked.

Klaus swallowed.

“Not for as morbid of a reason as you think,” Lola explained. “When I was little, I really liked wearing this dress and Mama’s necklace to be pretty like her. Good ‘ole-fashioned game of dress-up, you know? That day was no different. Mama and Papa wanted me to go take a nap. Instead, I went into their room and wore Mama’s things before sleeping in their bed.”

She paused.

“But they didn’t know that’s where I was. So, when the fire happened, they couldn’t find me.”

Klaus’s eyes widened in horror.

“You were in that housefire?” he asked.

“Yep,” Lola confirmed. She gestured down at herself. “And I was wearing this when it happened. It actually fits me these days, but at the time it dragged on the floor and trailed behind me, so it didn’t make it out unscathed.”

“You said you were seven…” Klaus muttered. He reached out without thinking. “Lola, I’m so-”

“Can I ask you something now?” she asked quickly, flinching away before he could touch her.

“Y-yes,” he stuttered. “What do you need?”

“Your fourteenth birthday,” she began. “How did that go? Do you and your sisters still celebrate? I know Violet had a bad one too. I just-”

“Why are you asking?” Klaus interrupted.

Lola froze, then bowed her head as she distracted herself by playing with her fingers.

“It’s just… that bastard ruined your thirteenth birthday,” she said. “That one was supposed to be the most special. It’s bad enough your mom and dad weren’t there, but those people were going to burn you… No one should burn on their birthday…”

Klaus studied her carefully, taking in her words, the careful way she spoke them, her body language.

His heart sank.

“The fire wasn’t just when you were seven,” he realized. “It was the day you turned seven.”

She paused.

Then nodded.

“Lola,” he muttered. “I’m so sorry. That’s horrible.”

“You didn’t answer my question,” she reminded him.

He balked a bit.

“Um, yeah,” he mumbled. He took a breath and tried to speak confidently, putting a smile in his voice as Lola had done earlier. “My sisters and I do still celebrate birthdays. We celebrated B.B.’s first right before we left Ishmael’s island. Honestly, it’s one of the best ways we found to cope. Sunny’s birthday happened a couple months after where Lemony’s research ends. That was our first celebration in a very long time without some sort of tragedy happening. It was really comforting. When it came back around to mine, Vi and Sunny pulled out all the stops they could. They even did their best to refurbish this old novel I’d found washed up on the coastal shelf. It wasn’t perfect and a lot of it was still pretty unreadable, but they really did try their hardest for me.”

He was surprised to hear a small laugh come from Lola.

He looked over at her.

She was smiling. It was a sad smile, but it was genuine.

“I’m happy for ya,” she told him. “I’m so glad you three could take those moments back.”

“What about you?” he asked, his concern overwhelming the persona he tried to give her.

“I don’t have a birthday anymore,” Lola told him, slouching but not losing that sad smile. “I stopped celebrating it after the fire. I just kinda inform people if I’m older than they think I am these days.”

Klaus looked her over with a sad expression.

“Anything else you’re dying to know about me?” Lola asked him, batting her eyelashes playfully.

“Oh!” he blushed. He scratched the back of his head nervously. “I don’t know if I should.”

“Aw, come now,” she urged. “I’m spilling my guts here. Take advantage.”

“Okay…” Klaus said cautiously. “I don’t want to offend you, but a couple of times I saw something when your hair moved out of place. I didn’t quite see it well. Is that some sort of birthmark or-”

“You saw?!” Lola shouted, flattening her hair to the back of her neck.

“Well, not well! I-”

“No, no, no, no, no,” Lola panicked. “I thought I could hide it better!”

“Lola, I’m sorry,” Klaus apologized. “I shouldn’t have even brought it up. I didn’t mean-”

“It’s a scar,” Lola said flatly.

“What?” Klaus asked.

“It’s a scar,” Lola repeated, slight growl in her voice.

Klaus was speechless. Lola turned to him with a tired expression.

With a deep sigh, she brushed her hair away from her neck.

For the first time, Klaus could see the red dress was backless. From the nape of Lola’s neck to nearly her waist were large, intense burn scars trailing down her back. Discolored from age, but obviously very permanent.

“Lola,” he breathed.

“My hair caught fire when I was escaping,” Lola told him. “I was in the hospital for a while.”

Klaus unthinkingly reached to touch it, only to wisely pull back.

“Does that… hurt you?” he asked.

“Off and on,” Lola answered. “Some days are worse than others. Nerve damage is a bitch like that. Some days I can’t feel anything, others everything hurts.”

“I’m so so-”

“Would you quit apologizing to me?” Lola scolded, letting her hair fall back in its proper place. “I get it, okay? Something bad happened to me. I appreciate the empathy, but I don’t want to dwell on it. Dwelling doesn’t lead to anything good.”

Klaus pursed his lips as he thought of what to say.

“You at least let yourself grieve, don’t you?” he asked.

“What?” Lola asked.

“I notice you try to stay upbeat,” Klaus told her. “When you were upset about Kit earlier, you tried to carry on. You only really seemed to backtrack in order to check on Lemony. I’m worried you may not let yourself grieve. That isn’t healthy either.”

Lola looked him over.

She sighed and leaned her head on his shoulder as if she were exhausted.

He flinched a bit at the sudden contact.

“Thank you for your concern,” she told him, eyes closed. “I can assure you that, yes, I do allow myself to grieve. And cry and scream and everything else. But I also know that there’s a time and place. I can’t just be falling apart whenever I want, there’s too much life going on.”

He couldn’t help but smile.

“That’s actually not a bad philosophy,” he said.

“I knew you’d agree,” she told him. “Imagine if you just stopped and dwelled about everything that’s happened to you in the past two years. You’d never get anything done.”

“That is part of the reason I can’t sleep,” Klaus admitted with a half chuckle.

“It does get worse in the quiet, doesn’t it?” Lola asked, sitting up to look him in the eyes. “Maybe V.F.D should change their mantra. Quiet is comforting in a library, but in most places it’s considered eerie.”

“Especially when it seems like everyone in The Organization has one trauma or another,” Klaus agreed. “One of these days I’d love to pick apart The Organization’s history to see where it all went wrong. I know they started with noble intentions, but I have a feeling that things went sour far before The Schism happened.”

“I’d wager things going sour caused The Schism there, babe,” Lola agreed, shooting him a finger gun.

Klaus blushed hearing his Lola-sanctioned nickname again. She half-smiled as she noticed.

“Tell you what,” she told him. “How about I take you to The Archives? Give you the chance to solve that little mystery.”

“You… you want to help me with my research?” he asked, a smile creeping onto his face.

“Yeah!” Lola agreed. “Tomorrow morning. You and me.”

“But aren’t you supposed to take B.B. to see Dr. Vandertrampp?” Klaus asked.

“Psh,” Lola waved off. “Lemony can take her. He needs to get out of the house anyway.”

Klaus chuckled.

“Alright, Miss Collins,” he said. “You drive a hard bargain.”

She extended her hand to him.

“So, it’s a date, Mr. Baudelaire?” she teased.

He swallowed at the wording.

“Yeah,” he agreed nervously, taking her hand to shake it. “It’s a date.”

Chapter 5:

Klaus woke up to the sound of pattering rain outside his window.

Downstairs he found the day had begun for others in the house.

“I’m telling you, you over mixed them,” he heard Sunny say.

“Perhaps I did,” Lemony replied. “Why don’t you take the bowl then, and I’ll take the eggs and bacon?”

“You probably shouldn’t have given charge of the stove to a three-year-old,” Violet joked.

“Pardon my saying so, but she isn’t the average three-year-old. I think I’d trust her more than I’d trust most grown adults,” Lemony replied with equal snark.

Klaus rounded the corner to see Violet sitting at the table with B.B. in her lap. Lemony and Sunny had switched stations but were cooking together in the kitchen.

“Good morning,” Violet called out.

“Good morning,” Klaus replied. “Lola isn’t up yet?”

“Of course you’d ask about her first,” Sunny smirked.

“She’ll be down eventually,” Lemony sighed. “That girl is almost never up before 8:30.”

He turned the switch to the radio on the counter. A nice jazz tune began to play.

“That may get her up faster,” he noted.

“There’s no way she can hear that,” Violet scoffed.

They heard the sound of a door slamming upstairs.

“You’d be surprised what that girl can hear,” Lemony retorted.

The saw as Lola slid down the banister side-saddle, dismounting with a slight flair.

“Hey, ya’ll,” she greeted.

“Morning!” Lemony called without looking up.

“Do you always come downstairs like that?” Klaus asked.

“Every morning,” Lemony confirmed. He turned and turned the radio off. “Breakfast is ready, Lola. Sunny and I have prepared eggs, bacon, and flapjacks.”

“‘Flapjacks,’” Lola chuckled as she sat down. “Pancakes. And bacon? Not very kosher.”

“You know I don’t keep kosher,” Lemony retorted, placing plates in front of each of the children. “Besides, it’s turkey bacon.”

“Ooh yum!” Lola cheered.

She took a bite and began to pat on the table in quick rhythm in excitement.

Klaus and Violet smiled at the charming gesture. Everything about her seemed to make a sound.

B.B. giggled at seeing it and began smacking the table herself. Violet gently took her hands and drifted them slightly away.

“Ready to eat, sweetheart?” she asked softly.

B.B. opened her mouth wide, ready for Violet to feed her.

“Ah.”

“Cute,” Lola mused. She looked over at Sunny. “So, who cooked what?”

“We switched,” Sunny told her. “But Lemony made the ugly pancakes.”

Lola burst out laughing as Lemony’s eyes widened at Sunny’s sudden audacity. She started choking. Lemony patted her back until she stopped enough to take a drink of juice.

“Holy crap!” Lola punctuated her laughter.

“Are you okay?!” Klaus asked, fully concerned.

“Yeah, yeah,” Lola assured, patting him on the shoulder.

“You are a terrible influence,” Lemony said, glaring at Lola.

“You’re really about to blame me for Sunny’s mouth?” she shot back.

“Yeah, that’s honestly not fair,” Klaus agreed.

Violet chimed in.

“Sunny has always been a bit…”

“Awesome?” Sunny offered.

“Keep that confidence, Sunshine!” Lola cheered her on. “The world needs agents of chaos!”

Sunny smiled widely at her.

Lemony glanced over at Lola again.

She smirked back at him.

He cleared his throat.

“So, what’s on the agenda today?”

“I was hoping you could take B.B. to see Dr. Vandertrampp before she has my head,” Lola told him. “I’m taking Klaus to the Archives.”

Violet and Sunny paused and exchanged a knowing look.

“Just the two of you?” Violet asked, smirk in her voice.

Klaus shot his sister a glare.

“I mean,” Lola continued “it’s not like anyone’s uninvited.”

“No, no,” Sunny argued smoothly. “Violet and I can find something to do.”

“We should probably tag along with Lemony,” Violet said. “See if we can get those inoculations out of the way early.”

“Hold on, now,” Sunny protested.

“I don’t mind,” Lemony said. “It gives me more time with my niece. If Violet and Sunny would like to tag along, I wouldn’t mind treating them to lunch as well. B.B. would probably be more comfortable with them anyway.”

“Oh, Lemony,” Violet protested. “You don’t need to-”

“I insist,” he told her. He spoke with softness in his voice. “I think I would like to get to know you and your siblings personally if you’d let me. No sneaking around this time.”

Violet smiled in reply.

“Alright,” she agreed. “I supposed that’s reasonable.”

“I hope you aren’t counting me out just because I look the least like Mom,” Klaus joked.

“And miss out on a chance to know Bertrand’s boy?” Lemony joked back. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

He took a drink from his mug of tea.

“But I wouldn’t want to hold you from your time with Lola,” he added, his eyes scrutinizing her from beyond the rim of his mug.

A slight redness came to her face as she turned away from him.

He fought a laugh at her expense as he placed his mug down.

She gave him a quick glare, then a roll of her eyes.

“Made a lot of food, Lemon Tree,” she redirected, shoving her food around her plate as if it interested her.

“Trying to get back in in the swing of cooking for more than two people,” Lemony replied.

Lola smiled.

“It’s kind of nice, isn’t it?” she asked.

Lemony smiled into his tea.

“It is.”

There was a pleasant lull.

“Okay, so about that Italian restaurant thing,” Sunny interrupted.

Lemony groaned.

“Alright, fine, here’s the context.”

Breakfast went swimmingly following Lemony’s odd tale.

Everyone went their own way following shortly after.

Lemony to his office, Lola upstairs, the Baudelaire sisters and B.B. in the living room.

Klaus found himself in the library observing the vast collection of titles.

It’d been so long since he’d seen any new hardback covers. All the books available to him in the last year were old, many of them damaged. But these were glossy, new, a had the wonderful smell of fresh ink and paper.

He picked up an unfamiliar title and noted the publisher’s mark. Lola’s family’s company.

“That one’s really good.”

Klaus jumped at the sudden voice behind him.

He turned to see Lola.

“Suddenly you move in silence?” he asked, heart beating hard.

She shrugged with a smirk.

“You can borrow that, if you’d like,” she said. “It’s the newest publication we have. You’d be among one of the first to read it. Hope you can stomach violence, though. There are a couple more graphic scenes.”

He glanced down at the book, then back at her.

“It’s brand new?” he asked.

“Yeah!” she replied cheerily. “It hasn’t even really hit bookstores or library syndication yet. I’m pretty sure that’s the first hard copy we made.”

“But you’ve read it,” he assessed.

“Someone had to approve the transcript,” she shrugged. She smiled at him. “Ready to head to the Underground? I can give you some more time if you need it.”

“Oh!” he exclaimed. He placed the book back on the shelf. “Yes, of course. Whenever you’re ready.”

“Good,” she said. She started on ahead. “Come along then.”

He followed her to the far shelf.

He glanced down and noticed she was wearing shoes this time. Short boots that covered her ankles.

“No need for ‘shave and a haircut,’ huh?” he noted.

“Hm?” she asked. “Ah, my shoes. Nah, just decided to actually put some on.”

She stopped at the shelf and pulled down the books.

O’Brien.

Plato.

Euripides.

Nabokov.

The bookshelf elevator opened for them, and he followed her inside.

He shifted a bit to the side, nervous of accidentally bumping into her, as the doors closed.

She gave him a quick smile. He returned it with a slight flush.

“So,” he began “do you get to read all the books before publishing them?”

“Well, not all of them,” Lola explained. “My shareholders are strict on me not reading any R-rated titles, so I have people for that, but otherwise, yes. I read as many of the transcripts as I can for quality control.” She nudged him lightly. “Big perks of owning your own publishing company. More books than you know what to do with.”

“That sounds amazing!” Klaus exclaimed. “I couldn’t imagine being able to read books before they’ve even reached the shelves.”

“Well, as long as you’re here, I could use another pair of eyes,” Lola offered. “How’d you like to help? I trust your judgement on a good read.”

“Really?” Klaus asked excitedly.

“Of course!” she replied.

“Lola,” he sighed. “You’re so…”

Ding!

“Already?” Lola asked. “Alright, off we go then.”

He stumbled a bit as he followed quickly after her.

“So, what can I expect?” he asked as they walked.

“Well, you want information on V.F.D’s history, right?” Lola asked. “I’m sure you’ll find lots of old files, recordings, maybe some old tapes. I personally wouldn’t be surprised to find Lemony’s Unauthorized Autobiography down there with all the old anecdotes in there. Probably some old transcripts from previous organization meetings… If I remember correctly, there was this huge book delivered to us recently. Sticks halfway off the shelf. An Incomplete History of something or another.”

“Wow,” Klaus breathed.

“I’d draw your own conclusions before you say that,” Lola warned. “You know how secretive and double-crossing this organization is to itself. Who knows how much of that stuff is accurate?”

“Well,” he said “you could always give me your opinion on the organization’s history from the viewpoint of a Volunteer.”

“Ha!” Lola scoffed. “You think any members of the older generations want me to know anything? Everything I know, I had to scrounge up myself.” She growled under her breath. “And there are still answers I’ll never have.”

He watched her carefully.

“Like what’s in that damn Sugar Bowl,” he muttered, mimicking her frustration.

“Oh-ho-ho,” she laughed. “Cursing now, are we? Careful, Mr. Baudelaire. It looks like I’m corrupting you.”

“Oh please,” he scoffed with a smile. “Doesn’t everyone curse once in a while at our age?”

“Yeah, maybe,” she agreed. “But according to Lemony, I-” She cleared her throat and held her hand at the base of her throat near her clavicle. “‘Curse like a pirate as sailors would find you too vulgar.’”

Klaus jumped back in surprise. She’d sounded exactly like Lemony!

“How did you that?!” he exclaimed.

“Neat trick, huh?” she laughed, back in her usual voice.

“Why didn’t you do that when you mimicked Lemony before?” Klaus asked.

“Because that trick usually freaks people out,” Lola explained. “Didn’t feel like a great first impression.”

She grinned at him.

“But you’ve known me for at least a day now. So, you’re allowed to know I’m insane.”

He chuckled.

“Can you only do Lemony’s voice or…”

“Would you prefer your sister’s company, Klaus?” Lola asked, mimicking Violet’s voice perfectly. She grinned widely. “How about Sunny’s?”

She squished her cheeks.

“B.B. easy!” she squeaked.

He smiled more uneasily with each passing voice.

“Ok, that is a little unnerving,” he admitted.

“Is it?” she asked in his voice.

“Oh, Lola, that’s horrifying!” he laughed, giving her shoulder a gentle shove.

“Yeah, Lemony hates hearing his own voice too!” Lola laughed with him.

“I’d wager to say that’s a normal reaction, Miss Collins,” he told her.

“Oh, come now, Mr. Baudelaire. Where’s your sense of theatrics?” she teased.

She stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

“We’re here, by the way.”

She gave a quick point to the large, important-looking building they’d nearly passed, “Town Hall” written in large lettering at the top of it.

“Oh,” he muttered.

He was surprised to notice Lola’s hand outstretched to him.

“You ready?” she asked.

His face reddened at the offer of holding her hand.

“Come on,” she told him with a roll of the eyes. She quickly grabbed his hand. “I’m not gonna bite you.”

She smirked at him as she walked him into the building.

“We aren’t close enough yet.”

The heat in his face rose.

She pulled him into the lobby area.

“Hey, Lo!” called a woman from the desk.

“Hello, Clarice,” Lola replied. She pulled Klaus along with her to the desk. “Have the key to the Archives ready for me?”

“Of course,” Clarice replied. She slid a keycard towards her. “Lucky you called when you did. Almost gave away the slot to someone else.”

“When’s the next user?” Lola asked.

“In two hours,” Clarice explained. “I’ll call over the intercom.”

“Thank you, Clarice,” Lola replied.

Clarice smirked and the teenagers.

“So, who’s the cutie in the specs, Lo?” she teased.

Klaus jolted from embarrassment.

Lola rolled her eyes. She snatched the card from the desk.

“I have a time limit,” she reminded. “Mind your own.”

“Okay, okay,” the woman laughed. She waved the two off. “Go find what you need. You know what to do if anything needs to be checked out.”

Lola gave a swift nod. Klaus gave a slight exclamation as he was pulled in another direction.

“Do you know everyone down here?” Klaus asked as he watched her slide the card through a slot.

“Well, not everyone,” she told him. “But a good few, yeah.”

Another set of elevator doors opened to them.

“The Archives are even more underground?” Klaus asked.

“I know it’s a little ridiculous,” Lola told him. “But there’s a lot of sensitive information that we can’t really risk getting out.”

She released his hand and stepped into the elevator. He followed behind her and settled in next to her as the door closed behind them.

“Sorry if your ears get stuffed up,” Lola told him. “Even more sorry if they pop. We are going further underwater so there will be some pressure changes.”

“Oh,” Klaus muttered. “Any way to combat that?”

She handed him a stick of gum from her pocket.

He popped the piece in his mouth.

“Cinnamon,” he noted.

“Yep,” she said with a smile, taking her own piece.

There was a silence between the two.

“You should probably stop worrying about the Sugar Bowl,” Lola told him bluntly. “It’s gone.”

Klaus startled a bit.

“What? What do you mean?” he asked. “Do you know where it is?”

Lola smirked to herself.

“Somewhere at the bottom of the ocean. Nowhere specific. I threw that sucker as far as I could.”

“WHAT?!” Klaus shouted. He began to choke on his gum.

“Klaus!” Lola shouted. She rushed to him. She reached below his ribcage and pushed his diaphragm until he could spit it out.

She released him when the gum came flying from his mouth.

He rubbed where she’d been gripping.

“Ow,” he muttered.

“I’m so sorry!” Lola exclaimed. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” he told her. “You know the Heimlich Maneuver. Good to know.”

He glanced up to see his chewed-up gum on the wall.

“Gross,” he remarked.

Lola chuckled.

“Sorry,” she told him again. She took her empty wrapper and used it to pull the used gum from the wall. “There, no one needs to know.”

He couldn’t help but chuckle back.

Ding! Ground Floor!

She carefully stood him back up and guided him into the Archives.

The front of the room was lined with filing cabinets in neat columns and rows, the back a neatly kept library of shelves. In the back corner, barely visible, the door to a second room labeled “media center.”

A man in tweed jacket at what looked like a reception desk startled from the magazine he was reading as the teenagers entered.

“Ah! Um, hey, Lola,” he stuttered. “Who’s your friend?”

“Don’t worry about it, Lionel,” Lola replied. She pulled Klaus along. “We have archive access for the next two hours. Clarice will call over the intercom when it’s over.”

“I still think I should know who’s down here for security reasons, Lo,” Lionel scolded.

Lola made a motorboat sound with her lips in exasperation.

“Fine,” she conceded. She indicated between the two. “Lionel, this is Klaus Baudelaire. There’s no reason you shouldn’t know that name by now. Klaus, Lionel Grant, one of V.F.D’s many sub-librarians. And before you ask that follow-up question, no, Dewey Denouement was not the only one. Sub-librarian is a specialized job title within The Organization. For every, say, thirty Volunteers, there’s one sub-librarian.”

Klaus’s eyes widened a bit at the new information. He was startled to turn as see Lionel staring at him with a star-struck expression.

“Klaus Baudelaire,” Lionel breathed. “Of the Baudelaire Orphans?! My goodness! I have so many questions! So, when you sister invented-”

“No! No! Absolutely not!” Lola cut him off. “That! That right there is why I didn’t want to introduce him to you in the first place!” She smacked her hand down on the counter and leaned in with a threatening tone in her voice. “We’re not dredging up the past. You want to revisit that stuff so badly? Reread Lemony’s books. I will not be condoning you or anyone else treating the Baudelaire family like a spectacle, got it?”

Lionel huffed and crossed his arms like a child.

“Fine, whatever.”

Lola stood up straight, calming down as she felt Klaus relax beside her.

She took his hand and began leading him to the shelves at the back.

Lionel called out to her.

“But what about-”

“Just go back to your magazine, Lionel!” she called back, unamused. She turned her attention back to Klaus. “I am so sorry about that. You’d think a grown man would have the common sense to leave you alone.”

“If you’ll recall,” he began attempting to lighten the mood with a joke “I’m apparently famous because a grown man wouldn’t leave me alone.”

“That’s not very funny,” Lola told him, concern in her eyes.

He avoided her gaze in embarrassment.

“Yeah… I know,” he admitted.

She took him behind a shelf and caringly straightened out his clothing.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he responded, nearly stuttering. He felt the need to reach for her, but pulled back. He found himself flustered. “Thank you. For stepping in like that.”

She sighed.

“I hate that we’re already seeing the consequences of releasing those books. I mean, the sub-librarians should have that information, but to use it so insensitively-”

He steeled his nerves and interrupted her with a hand on her shoulder.

“It’s okay,” he reassured her. “It’s out in the open now. We deal with what we can. I’ve dealt with way worse.”

She stared at him sadly for a moment.

“I wish you hadn’t,” she told him bluntly.

He stepped back in surprise, taking his hand from her shoulder.

She sighed and reached up for a book.

“Here,” she told him, handing the book to him. “This isn’t a bad start to your research.”

Chapter 6:

“This is getting frustrating.”

The two of them sat across from each other surrounded by sources of all kinds.

Lola smirked.

“Welcome to Hell,” she replied.

“So many of these things contradict each other,” Klaus complained. “Some sources agree, others claim one thing happened at one point of time, others claim it happened much later. There are so many names that either don’t seem to connect to each other or have been completely redacted! Not to mention how many people are connected to an alias. And some of them are shared aliases!”

He shoved the book in front of him away and rubbed his temples.

“It feels like I need a corkboard and string to even start getting a clear narrative.”

“Careful,” Lola chuckled. “That’s how you turn into Lemony Snicket.”

“How did he manage to gather his research?” he asked her. “That couldn’t have been an easy task.”

“Well,” she began “firstly, he didn’t do it alone. I didn’t really start helping him until kind of late into the game, but he had Jacques, Kit, that editor I keep hearing so much about, and a few other trusted feet on the ground. I think a lot of his research came from word-of-mouth testimonies and newspaper clippings…”

She drifted off.

“He was there for a couple of things that happened,” she admitted, looking him in the eye.

Klaus’s eyes widened.

“Lemony was there?” he asked. “When?”

She hesitated a moment.

“You… didn’t catch the face of the cab driver at the Hotel Denouement, did you?”

Klaus wore a shocked expression and fell back in his chair with a slouch. She watched as he went through the scenario in his head.

“That was Lemony,” he stated factually. “Lemony was at the Hotel Denouement.”

Lola nodded slowly.

“Was he there for his research?” Klaus questioned her.

“No,” Lola replied. “He knew you and your sisters were there, but he had no intention of getting involved. In spite of the fact that Kit had decided to.” She paused. Her expression became sullen. “In spite of what happened when Jacques got involved.”

They sat in the weight of her statement.

He reached for her hand to comfort her.

She moved quickly, sitting up and plastering a half-effort smile on her face.

“I’m fine!” she lied.

He pulled his hand back, watching her carefully.

“Why was Lemony there, then?” he asked cautiously.

She crossed her arm to hold herself as she rubbed the other one nervously.

“… To get me,” she admitted.

He froze. Paralyzed.

He began to tremble.

“Klaus?” she asked, worry in her eyes.

“You were there?” he asked in nearly a whisper.

His eyes were wide, but he seemed to look past her.

“Yes,” Lola replied, looking him over, trying to understand what was happening. “Are you o-”

He seemed to leap across the table when he grabbed her shoulders.

“Are you okay?!” he nearly shouted, his eyes pleading. “Tell me you were gone before the fire. Please! You left with Lemony, and you were okay!”

Lola’s eyes widened at his reaction. She could see the desperate panic in his eyes. She cradled his cheek in her hand and received no reaction. Tears welled in his eyes as her silence began to overwhelm him.

She stood, gently guiding him back to his seat. She stroked her thumb across his cheek.

“I’m okay,” she assured him softly. “I’m okay.”

He let go of his grip on her. His heart rate seemed to slow as he breathed slowly and deeply.

She wiped away a fallen tear.

She paused for a moment before gently taking his hands in hers.

“Klaus, can you hear me?” she asked softly.

He said nothing but met her eyes.

She gave his hands a light squeeze.

“Can you speak?” she asked.

He nodded. Then cleared his throat.

“Y-yes,” he replied.

“Can you feel my hands?” she asked.

He nodded.

He began to feel calmer. He glanced down at his hands in hers. He squeezed back.

This felt comfortable.

He looked back up at her.

“Thank you,” he told her. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” she told him, giving him a gentle smile. “I understand the panic.”

“Why were you there?” he asked.

She knitted her brows and pursed her lips.

She paused a moment.

“I… I thought if I was there, maybe I could prevent what happened to Jacques from happening to Kit,” she admitted. “She… she was too close to him. I thought maybe he wouldn’t hurt her but…”

He noticed she began to panic herself.

He squeezed her hands tightly. She snapped out of her thoughts at the sudden sensation.

She looked at him, surprised, then softened her expression.

“Thanks,” she replied. She took a breath and continued her story. “The plan was to sneak off and meet Kit at the hotel, but Lemony figured out what I was doing and intercepted me. He and Kit exchanged the cab… He somehow ended up with Sugar Bowl, and I tossed it into the ocean as soon as we got back to Hurricane Isle.”

He squinted a bit at her.

“So, that’s how you got it.”

“Yep,” she told him with a slight shrug. “I was so damn tired of that thing. It was the cause of so many problems. I just wanted it gone. So, I figured if I threw it off the shore of an uncharted island and just let the current take it, no one would know where it was, and no one could track it down. Poof! Gone!”

Her face fell as she saw Klaus’s expression.

“But now I’m realizing that thing caused you so many problems. You never got any answers and now… Poof. Gone,” she muttered. “I’m sorry. I obviously didn’t think that through.”

Klaus gave her a half-smile.

“It’s okay,” he told her. “I understand your perspective. If no one can find it, it doesn’t fall into the hands of anyone dangerous. Besides, it’s not like you did it with the knowledge that we’d ever meet.”

“Silver linings, I suppose,” she smiled at him.

He sighed and reared his head back.

“I guess I should mark ‘What’s in the Sugar Bowl?’ off my list of questions.”

“If it makes you feel better,” Lola told him. “I’m under the impression that no answer would have been satisfying.”

“Yeah, probably not,” Klaus conceded. He sat himself back up properly. “At least it’s one less thing to worry about.”

She gave him another smile and shrug.

There was a short lull. Long enough for Klaus to notice his hands in hers. Had they been holding hands the whole time?

His face reddened as he released himself with a flinch. He looked at her with slight terror in his eyes.

She chuckled.

“I was wondering when you would notice,” she said with a grin. She rubbed her arm nervously. “By the way, could you do me a favor and not tell Lemony I told you what happened to the Sugar Bowl? I think he’s still mad at me for doing that in the first place.”

“Um,” Klaus muttered as he rubbed the back of his head, still flushed. “Speaking of Lemony, why weren’t you mentioned in any of his books?”

“Because I asked him not to,” Lola told him plainly. “Kit had the same request until she’d gotten directly involved. Since I never had the chance to interact with your story directly, Lemony kept up my requested anonymity.”

“Oh…” Klaus muttered. He tried to find his words. “It’s a shame. We could have met sooner.”

“I honestly think knowing me at the time would have made your life more complicated,” she replied without missing a beat.

He didn’t know what to say.

Another lull in conversation.

He cleared his throat.

“So, Lola,” he addressed. “What else can you do?”

“What?” Lola replied, confused.

“Other than the way you mimic voices,” he elaborated. He smiled cautiously. “Any other tricks up your sleeves?”

She stared at him in fascination. Then chuckled to herself.

“You’re an odd one, Baudelaire,” she praised him. She sat herself up with a confident demeanor. “Since you’re curious, I do have a couple other talents. I have perfect pitch, firstly. Secondly, I think I’m pretty good at bird calls.” She whistled a tune one may recognize as a cardinal. “And lastly.”

She covered her mouth.

“I can throw my voice!”

Klaus flinched at the sound of her voice coming from behind him.

“That’s amazing!” he exclaimed, grinning widely.

She stood for a showman’s bow.

“Thank you, thank you.”

They heard a slight staticky sound from above them.

“Lola, fifteen-minute warning!” Clarice called over the intercom.

Lola stood from her bow.

“We should get back to the elevator,” she told Klaus.

“Surely the elevator wouldn’t take fifteen minutes?” he replied.

“The elevator itself, no,” she told him. “But there’s a waiting period for going up that you don’t have for going down. We have to sit in there for about ten minutes before it’ll ascend. Since there are some changes in the archive’s pressure, it’s to prevent the Bends.”

Klaus’s eyes widened.

“The Bends?” he questioned. “Like what happens to divers when they come up too quickly? Have people here gotten sick like that just from coming to the Archives?”

“Well, there are no recorded cases to my knowledge,” Lola admitted. “But it’s better to be cautious. That’s another reason this place isn’t open access. It’s for the safety of both patrons and the sub-librarians.”

Klaus stood and looked over at the mess of work he’d left.

“I feel terrible leaving all this for Lionel.”

“Ah, let him do some actual work,” she told him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “It’s his job. Plus, just like regular libraries, patrons not putting away the books themselves shows usage of the catalogue. Not like we need to worry about funding, but it’s healthy for the syndication.”

He looked over at her, slight fascination in his eyes.

“You’re very knowledgeable about this.”

She shrugged nonchalantly.

“I like to think I’m at least a little bit intelligent,” she told him with a smirk.

He couldn’t help but laugh at her joke.

She indicated to the large stacks of research they’d accumulated with a smile.

“Last chance to check out anything you need.”

“No, that’s okay,” Klaus told her. “Talking to you has been more useful than anything these things have offered me today. I should probably just try again later now that I’m a bit more mentally prepared for what little to expect.”

“Very well,” Lola told him. “Come on, we don’t want to take up someone else’s time slot.”

He followed her out of the room and past the desk.

“You two find everything you needed?” Lionel asked.

“Yep,” Lola replied without looking at him.

She swiped the keycard.

“Hey, Klaus,” Lionel called teasingly. “Looks like you have a knack for romancing girls while under the sea, huh?”

Lola made a lude gesture at him before dragging a flustered Klaus into the elevator.

The back wall of the elevator flipped out to reveal a bench as the doors closed.

Lola sighed and sat down.

“Ignore Lionel,” Lola told him. “That guy’s been trying to phase me for a while now.”

She patted the space next to her. He sat down.

A countdown timer started above the door, showing how much time they’d have before ascension.

“I didn’t think he’d mess with you to get to me, though,” Lola continued. “Super disappointed in him for that.”

“I do wish he hadn’t brought up my time with Fiona,” Klaus agreed, rubbing the back of his head nervously. “At least, I assume that’s what he meant.”

“I know! Dick move, right?” Lola said incredulously. “What is his deal today?”

Klaus laughed at her reaction.

He gave a pleased sigh.

“I suppose we’ll head back to the mansion after this,” he addressed.

“I mean, we don’t have to,” Lola told him. “Would you like a tour around Underground City? I don’t mind.”

Klaus blushed.

“You want to keep going?”

“Yeah!” Lola told him excitedly. “I’m having fun! I wanna hang out with you more!”

The blush on Klaus’s face deepened. He smiled reflexively and looked away nervously.

A slight red tint came to Lola’s skin too, her expression softening at seeing his reaction.

“Or, you know,” she told him “we could go back to the house if you really want to.”

“No,” Klaus told her, turning to her with a smile up to his eyes. “I want to spend time with you too.”

The two found themselves moving closer together.

Then they were suddenly jolted by the elevator moving. They exchanged awkward smiles after Lola had caught Klaus from falling.

“That was quicker than usual,” Lola commented with a chuckle.

“Hopefully The Bends isn’t an actual concern,” Klaus replied with a laugh of his own.

“I’ve got Phoebe on speed dial for house calls just in case,” she assured him.

Ding! Lobby Floor!

She helped him back on to stable feet and walked him out of the elevator.

The two walked over to the counter where Lola placed the keycard down. Clarice turned at the feeling of a new presence.

“Oh!” she cheerily chirped. “Did you find everything you needed?”

“No,” Lola answered honestly with a laugh. “We went in without actually knowing what to look for.”

“Aww, that’s a shame. But you know you’re always welcome back!” Clarice told them with a smile. “Anything else on the agenda for today?”

Lola continued the conversation, giving Clarice a friendly smile while making her way towards the exit. She gently took Klaus’s arm as she meant to guide him with her.

“Just gonna take Klaus around town and-” she froze and made a face as she cursed herself. “Shit.”

Klaus gave her an uncomfortable glance before the two turned back around to face Clarice, both concerned at the possibility of a repeat of their experience with Lionel.

While Lionel had seemed starstruck, Clarice seemed more surprised. And concerned.

“Klaus?” she asked. “As in Baudelaire? Like from the Snicket books?”

“Um,” Klaus stuttered. “Yes.”

She placed her hand over her chest in a breathless gesture, but she spoke calmly.

“Are your sisters here too? My goodness… the Baudelaire children here on the island…” She spoke pointedly and sincerely. “I’m really hoping people have the common sense to leave you be. I truly am.”

“Can you tell that to your idiot brother downstairs?” Lola nearly growled.

Klaus turned to her in slight surprise.

Clarice gave a frustrated sigh.

“Dear God, what did Lionel do?”

“He, um, he started asking questions about what all had happened,” Klaus told her. “Like how someone would interview a celebrity.”

“He did what?! Oh, that little… I’ll throttle him! What on Earth would possess him to-!” She gritted her teeth and pinched the bridge of her nose as she fumed in anger. Then she sighed, frustrated. “Sometimes I think he got the sub-librarian position because he doesn’t have the social skills for any other position in the organization… I’m sorry, kids. Next time, I’ll make sure it’s either me or someone else down there. That’s unacceptable.”

“You’re also a sub-librarian,” Klaus asked in more of a statement.

“Yeah,” Clarice told him, trying to give him a polite smile. “There’s a few of us running The Archives. Lionel and I actually live in The Underground, so it’s just us a lot of the time, but I think I can call an associate or two of mine to cover. I would just need about 24 hours’ notice. Again, I’m so sorry about him.”

“It’s alright,” Klaus assured her. “I hold nothing against you for your brother’s actions.”

She sighed again and shielded her eyes as if blocking the light for a massive headache.

“I’ll give him a talking to later.” She waved the teenagers off. “Don’t let me keep you. You kids go enjoy your date.”

“Thanks again, Clarice!” Lola called to her as they left.

“No problem, Lo,” she replied much less enthusiastically than her earlier greeting.

Klaus and Lola both paused outside Town Hall.

“Wait,” Lola said. “Am I nuts? Did she say ‘day’ or ‘date?’”

“Surely, she said ‘enjoy your day,’” Klaus agreed. “There’s no way a research outing could be mistaken for a date.”

The two glanced at where Lola had been holding his arm, then at each other. They flinched away with a slight redness in their faces.

“So, um,” Lola began, negating eye contact with him. “Ready for that tour?”

“Um, yeah,” Klaus agreed, doing the same. “Wherever you want to take me.”

She paused for a moment, then smiled to herself.

Her face remained flushed as she silently offered her hand to him.

His eyes widened in surprise as he noticed the gesture. A smile creeped up on his own flustered face as his fingers intertwined with hers.

Chapter 7:

“So, I’m not perfect with orientation and cardinal directions,” Klaus admitted. “But based on my memory of the layout of the aboveground island, specifically where I remember the sun being when I woke up, am I crazy to think that North and South library are in the opposite directions?”

“You saw the sun when you woke up? Where?” Lola joked. She proceeded to explain. “Nah, you’re right. South Library is in the northern part of the city and North Library is in the south.”

“Like Greenland and Iceland?” Klaus asked.

“Switching the names like that does sound like some nonsense V.F.D would pull,” Lola conceded. “But it’s actually because they’re named after people. Eliakim North and Jordana South, the respective architects of each building. Long-time rivals from my understanding.”

“So, less Iceland and Greenland and more along the lines of French toast and German chocolate cake,” Klaus assessed with a smile.

“Exactly!” Lola exclaimed, returning his smile.

The two walked on, hand in hand.

He pointed to the ceiling with his free hand.

“So, what are those? I don’t see them anywhere else.”

“Smoke vents,” Lola explained. “They’re actually all throughout the shell, but they usually stay closed. In case of a fire, they’ll open after the sprinklers are done going off. Those, however, are a special set. That spot underneath them is a designated smoking area for people who smoke cigars and cigarettes. Ventilates the smoke and prevents an accidental trigger of smoke alarms.”

She sighed.

“I guess there’s a benefit to everything. If Lemony is being a hermit in the house, he’s not down here feeding his addiction.”

“Oh, that’s right,” Klaus said as he remembered. “Lemony does smoke. He had a cigarette when we met him in the cab.”

“He wasn’t supposed to!” Lola exclaimed. Another sigh. “He’s mostly kicked the habit, but still gets cravings when he’s really stressed out. Considering the circumstances of that day, I can’t completely blame him for falling off the wagon, but I’m honestly still kinda mad at him for it.”

“You really care about him, don’t you?” Klaus assessed.

“Psh, Snicket? No way,” Lola scoffed with negated eye-contact. “I just hate his cigarette addiction. A. It’s bad for him, B. It’s a fire hazard, and C. I don’t want anything in my house smelling like smoke and that includes him. He’s actively not allowed to smoke in the house, and he knows I’ll catch him if he smokes anywhere else. He worked too damn hard to quit to fall victim to his vice like that.”

Klaus smiled, seeing right through her.

“Sure, Lola,” he muttered.

Lola blushed at the call of her bluff.

“Plus, there’s a smoke alarm in every room. Imagine if he set them off all the time,” she muttered for a new justification.

“I did notice there was a smoke alarm in the bathroom,” Klaus noted.

“I’m a little bit paranoid about fires,” Lola admitted sheepishly.

Their eyes cast downward as they walked on, the air heavy with the reminder of tragedy.

Lola chose to break the tension.

“So,” she began “what were you trying to say to me in the elevator earlier?”

“In the elevator to the Archives?” he asked.

“No, in the elevator from my place,” she corrected. “‘Lola, you’re so…’”

He flushed and looked away from her, embarrassed. He tightened his grip on her hand with a slight panic.

“Lola, you’re so…” he hesitated.

Then he turned to her, his shy smile highlighted by the redness in his face.

“Cool. You’re so cool.”

Her heart skipped a beat. She grinned nervously as her own face became flushed.

“You think I’m cool?” she asked.

“Yeah!” Klaus answered enthusiastically. He fell into a shyer demeanor. “You’re the coolest person I’ve met in a long time.”

The red tint beneath her skin flushed deeper.

“You’re cool,” she corrected him, rubbing her neck nervously.

“What?” Klaus asked with a laugh. “No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are!” Lola replied excitedly. “After everything you’ve been able to accomplish? You confidently delivered a persuasive legal argument at the age of twelve, solved numerous codes with minimal information, literally took hits and stared corrupt authority in the eye without losing any of your bite! You are so cool! You’re an absolute genius, Klaus Baudelaire!”

He stared at her, wide-eyed, his face gone scarlet.

She froze at her perceived faux pas and shrank herself back to a manageable level.

“Not that I don’t think your sisters are just as brilliant,” she mumbled, embarrassed. She looked back at him. “I’m sorry. I know I got overexcited. I know those situations weren’t-”

“It’s kind of sweet how enthusiastic you can get,” he said without thinking.

She paused and looked at him, surprised. She smiled.

“Kla!”

The two turned towards the voice that had interrupted them to see B.B. in Violet’s arms, frantically reaching out towards her adoptive father, Sunny and Lemony flanking either side of them.

“So much for letting them have privacy,” Violet said to Lemony.

“Hey!” Lola greeted the lot of them. “Fancy crossing paths like this. What’s up?”

“On our way back to the mansion after a nice lunch,” Lemony reported. “Dr. Vandertrampp sends her love.”

“Likewise,” Lola replied.

B.B. continued to squirm and reach out until Klaus took her from his sister’s arms.

“Hey, precious,” he greeted softly. “What’s the matter?”

She tucked herself into his chest with a whine.

“She’s a bit mad at Lemony and me,” Violet explained bashfully.

“Dr. Vandertrampp was, in fact, ready and willing to have her inoculations done during the check-up,” Lemony said in the same manner.

Klaus took note of the small bandages on B.B.’s arm and thigh.

“Aww,” he cooed, kissing her forehead. “You’re okay, brave girl. Vi and Uncle Lemony didn’t mean to hurt you.”

She gave a small sound as she nuzzled into him for comfort.

“What about Sunny?” Klaus asked.

“Those shots we still have to schedule,” Violet replied.

“Thanks a lot!” Sunny scolded her brother. “I was hoping she forgot!”

Klaus chuckled at his sister’s expense.

“So, just going to work in your office when you get back?” Lola asked Lemony.

“Well, not exactly,” Lemony corrected. “I was going to look through some of my published work with the girls. You know, specifically my children’s fiction. See if they’d like any copies if they decide to leave the island.”

“Really?” Lola asked. “But those are your personal copies, Lem. They don’t leave the library.”

“Well,” said Lemony “it’s not as if I couldn’t rely on my publisher for replacements.”

He smiled down at her, shadow of the brim of his hat over his eyes. She smiled back at him.

“We haven’t exactly come to a full decision on whether or not we stay,” Violet interjected. “But I agree that if we decide to go, we should take pieces of our time here with us. At least for B.B.’s sake.”

“It would be fairly long instances of time between visits to the island even with a custody arrangement,” Lola agreed. “I agree it won’t hurt to have bits of Lemony with her.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Lemony concurred. He looked between Lola and Klaus. “Have you two enjoyed your outing so far? Have you stopped for lunch by any chance?”

“We’ve had a great time,” Klaus told him. “Unfortunately, if you’ll excuse the wording, I didn’t really find what I was looking for in The Archives.”

“And, no, no lunch yet,” Lola continued. “Why do you ask?”

“The café in Town Square fixed their panini maker,” Lemony reported with a grin.

Lola gasped and excitedly flapped her hands.

“Really?” she asked excitedly.

She grabbed Klaus’s sleeve.

“Let’s go! Let’s go!”

Klaus chuckled at her enthusiasm.

“Okay, okay,” he agreed. He kissed B.B.’s forehead before handing her back to Violet.

“Kla…” B.B. whined.

Lola kneeled to meet her eyes.

“I’ll bring him back safe and sound, I promise,” she told her with a grin.

B.B. stared at her for a moment before returning a wide grin.

“Lo!” she squeaked.

Lola chuckled at the cute display.

“We better be off,” Violet said, adjusting B.B.’s position.

“You guys have fun!” called Sunny with a toothy grin.

Lemony gave a subtle salute from his brim as he walked off with the girls.

Lola bounced excitedly on the balls of her feet and grabbed Klaus’s arm.

“Come on! Paninis! Now!”

He laughed as she dragged him off.

She brought him into Town Square, excitedly babbling along the away.

“Oh my Gooooood, their paninis are so good! And they have super good clubs sandwiches if you aren’t in the mood for something hot. The turkey and Swiss is to die for! Do you like mayo? I know not everyone does, but trust me on this, it’s a legitimate necessity for this sandwich. I think they make theirs in house and it is so good.”

She brought him over to a table.

“Here. Save our seats. I’ll go order.”

He sat down. His expression softened as he watched her leave.

“HEY!”

He jumped at the sound of a sudden voice. He looked up to see a young man, perhaps a year or two older than him.

“I’m sorry,” Klaus addressed him. “Were you hoping for this table?”

The other boy smirked at him.

“I haven’t seen you around here before. Your family just relocate to the island?”

“Um…” Klaus hesitated. “We aren’t sure yet… We may just be visiting.”

The boy scowled.

“What kind of stupid answer is that?” He grabbed Klaus by his collar and pulled him forward. He spoke in a low, threatening tone. “Listen here, you little dork. You’re gonna learn your place real quick. Survival of the fittest.”

The sound of his tone sounded too familiar in Klaus’s ears. He felt the darkness behind his eyes.

“You think I’m scared of some random bully after I’ve had to deal with real monsters?” he asked coldly.

The other boy’s eyes widened in surprise. Then his face contorted in rage as he reared his fist back.

“Little four-eyed-”

Before Klaus could flinch, he felt himself falling back into his seat as the bully was wrenched backwards.

Lola stood holding the older boy by the back of his collar, anger burning in her eyes.

“Leave. Him. Alone,” she growled through her teeth.

The boy scoffed and looked her over.

“What? He your little boyfriend?” he asked. His tone shifted to a slime-covered flirtation. “What’s a hot little number doing with a-”

There was a loud slam as she pushed him down onto the table. He shouted in pain as she twisted his arm behind his back.

“He’s been through enough,” she said coldly. “I’m not letting some asshole come in and make it worse!”

Another shout as she twisted harder.

A look of realization crossed her face.

“Hey… Aren’t you Denise’s kid?” she asked. Her expression turned to a devilish smirk. She leaned in to speak in a low voice. “Yeah, I’ve seen your photo. Your mother’s been speaking with me about opening her bakery in town. It’d be a damn shame if I had to turn her down due to your behavior.”

The boy’s eyes widened in terror.

“You’re Lola?! Mom didn’t tell me you were just a kid!”

“Well, firstly, you can’t be that much older than me,” Lola replied nonchalantly. “Secondly, my Mama taught me to show kindness to strangers. You never know what’s going on with someone.”

“Please, please, don’t take away my Mommy’s dreams!” the boy begged. “She worked so hard on ‘em!”

“Then you better work on your shit attitude,” Lola ordered. “I don’t reward bad behavior.”

“Yes, ma’am! Yes, ma’am!”

Lola released the boy and got off his back.

He stood up and turned to her, panic in his eyes.

She raised her brow expectantly, arms crossed.

He turned to Klaus with the same panic.

“I’m sorry!” he panicked. “I’ll never bother you again!”

With that the boy ran off, tail between his legs.

Klaus looked up at Lola. She stood, hands over her ears as she obviously tried to quell her temper. The heat rushed to his face. No one had ever defended him so fervently before. Usually, he found violence distasteful but with her…

He caught the cold chill of those blue eyes.

Damn.

She took a deep breath.

“Are you okay?” she asked him softly.

Her voice brought him back to reality.

“What?” he asked.

“Are you okay?” she repeated. She sighed as she sat across from him. “I’m sorry about that. I know you’re not a fan of violence. I try not to jump to it myself, but I saw him put his hands on you, and I just couldn’t…” Another deep sigh. “Are you okay? He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

Klaus examined her.

“No, I’m okay,” he told her. “Who was that?”

“I dunno his name,” Lola told him. “I just know his mother really.”

“You know the names of so many adults down here, but you don’t know someone our own age?” Klaus questioned.

Lola gave a joking shrug.

“Eh,” she muttered. “I’ve never been good at making friends my own age. Not like we have the school system up and running to force all the minors to see each other every day yet.”

Klaus continued to stare.

“Look,” she told him “before you ask, I’m not going to make Denise suffer because her son decided to be an idiot. If they’re down here, that means their family dynamic is probably not the most average one. Denise is probably a wonderful mother. He wouldn’t have gotten so upset otherwise. But, sometimes, people need to understand their behavior has consequences before they’ll fix their behavior. Hopefully now he won’t just go around attacking people he deems weaker than him.”

He paused for a moment.

“I…” he stuttered. “Thank you for standing up for me like that.”

“Anytime,” Lola smiled back.

“Lola!” a man from the café shouted, motioning towards her.

“Our order’s ready,” she told Klaus. “I’ll be right back. Try not to attract anymore trouble, yeah?”

She returned after a moment with a meal tray.

“Hope you don’t mind. Got you the same thing as me,” she told him. “Except the drink. Hope you like ginger ale. Felt like a safe choice.”

He noticed the glass bottle in her hand.

“What’s that?” he asked.

“Hm?” she asked, popping the cap with a fizz. “Oh, it’s Italian soda. I basically bribe all the food vendors down here to keep it stocked. Pretty sure I’m the only one who actually drinks it.”

“Can I try it?” Klaus asked.

She gave him an unsure look.

“You sure? It’s kind of an acquired taste.”

“Yeah,” he argued, reaching for the bottle. “Let me try.”

“Okay, but I don’t think you’re gonna like it,” she warned.

He took the bottle from her hand and took a quick swig.

His eyes widened and he began to spit and gag.

“It’s bitter!” he gasped.

“Yeah, it is!” Lola laughed, taking the bottle from him. “I told you!”

He began to laugh himself.

“It tastes like paint thinner!” he laughed. “They really drink that in Italy?”

“Yeah, apparently,” Lola smiled. Her expression softened even more. “I grew up on the stuff, so I’m used to it. Reminds me of Papa.”

He glanced down at her necklace, then gave her a soft smile.

“It’s sweet you carry them with you,” he praised.

She returned his expression and reached for his hand.

“The pain never really goes away,” she told him. “But neither does the love.”

He intertwined his fingers with hers.

“You’re right,” he muttered.

The two sat together and talked for hours, exchanging stories and happy memories. About themselves, their parents, odder situations they’d been through.

“No way you actually had a pet mountain lion!” Klaus laughed in disbelief.

“Yeah!” Lola replied. “Mama was terrified of dogs, but when I accidentally befriended a cougar cub, she didn’t take too much convincing.” She beamed. “His name was Stringbean!”

“Is that what it’s like to actually be raised in The Organization?” he chuckled.

“No, I think that might have been just me,” she replied bashfully.

“So, what happened to Stringbean?” he asked. “Did he live in your house?”

“No, no, he had his own space in the backyard,” she corrected. “He only lived with us for about a year. We gave him to a wildlife preserve after that so he could live with other big cats.” She sighed. “I miss him. We used to visit him at least twice a year until the fire. Sans my godfather, of course. He was terrified of him.”

Klaus laughed.

“Your godfather was afraid of the mountain lion, or the mountain lion was afraid of your godfather?”

“My godfather was afraid of Stringbean, obviously,” Lola replied. “He wasn’t even on Stringbean’s radar as a meal!”

He laughed even more, pink rising to his cheeks.

Lola grinned at the sight and tightened her grip on his hand.

“You have a wonderful smile,” Lola told him. “I’m glad I get to see it.”

His laughter faded as he fell into a content smile.

“Thank you,” he told her. “Yours is beautiful.”

They smiled together for a moment and found themselves leaning in.

They were startled seeing the light shift around them. The overhead lights faded out, replaced by the light of the streetlamps around them.

“Shit,” Lola muttered. “The night lights. We should get back to the house. I didn’t realize how late it was getting.”

“Sunny’s not going to be happy with us if we’re late for dinner,” Klaus agreed.

Lola chuckled as she stood and extended her hand to him. He gladly took it and followed her lead.

“So,” he began. “What’s our story for why we took so long?”

“Story?” Lola asked. “Why do we need a story? We got caught up talking and lost track of time.” She nudged him playfully. “Unless you wanna help me come up with an alibi just in case Denise complains to Lemony about me roughing her son up a little.”

“I don’t feel like that’s something you’d actually lie to Lemony about,” Klaus admitted.

“Ha!” Lola scoffed. “That’s because it’s not! I try not to lie in general, frankly. And the douche deserved it, so I don’t regret giving him a bit of a sore shoulder.”

She grumbled under her breath.

“If he would have actually hit you, I would have broken his arm.”

Klaus frowned.

“An eye for an eye makes the world go blind, you know,” he quietly scolded her.

“Yeah, well, if there are no consequences, people will continue to take advantage and get what they want,” she replied.

They stopped at the keypad in front of the elevator door.

Lola started to put in the passcode, but paused before she could. She turned her attention to Klaus.

“I forgot to show this to you and your sisters yesterday. You’re going to need the passcode so you can freely move between the Aboveground and Underground without me or Lemony,” she said.

She moved her body slightly to show him the keypad as she typed.

T + H/H + S

A few quiet beeps, then the elevator doors opened.

“What was that code?” Klaus asked as the door shut behind them.

Lola shrugged with a smile.

“Nothing too secretive, just a personal message,” she explained. “T plus H. Heart and Soul.”

“T and H?” Klaus asked.

“Tony and Harper,” Lola replied. She gave him a sad smile. “My parents.”

Chapter 8:

“Hey, ya’ll!” Lola called out as she and Klaus stepped out of the elevator.

The Baudelaire girls came to meet them, a cooking spoon in Sunny’s hand.

“There you two are!” Violet said. “Lemony said you’d call if you were going to be late.”

“You’re late!” Sunny scolded.

“I know, I know,” Klaus said, holding his hands up in a defensive gesture. “I’m sorry. We lost track of time.”

“I didn’t intend to kidnap your brother,” Lola told them. She gestured towards him up and down. “See? Here he is, completely intact.”

“That’s a bold joke to make,” Violet told her smiling slightly.

Lola returned her smile with a shrug. She went on and walked ahead nonchalantly.

“So, what’s for dinner, Sunshine?”

Sunny stood pouting with her arms crossed.

“Jambalaya and it’s been ready for ten minutes.”

“Sounds great,” Lola said, continuing her way to the door. “See ya’ll in the dining room.”

The girls made their way to follow her out, only to be stopped by their brother grabbing for them.

“Hey, do you mind if we have a family meeting after dinner?” Klaus asked.

Meanwhile Lola strode ahead, coming across Lemony feeding his niece in the dining room.

“You should have called,” he gently scolded. “Violet and Sunny were getting worried.”

“Yeah, yeah, I got the lecture already,” Lola retorted. She leaned down to give her B.B. a gentle nudge on the cheek. “Hello, little cutie.”

B.B. gave a pleased squeak. Then she paused and looked up at her with wide eyes.

“Kla?”

“He’s right behind me,” Lola assured.

The Baudelaire children entered the room shortly after.

“Ah! Gang’s all here!” Lola announced upon seeing them. She rubbed her hands together. “Let’s eat!”

Another pleasant meal all together.

Once the meal was finished and things had been cleaned up, the Baudelaire children made their way upstairs. Lola also stood with intent to go to her music room, only to be stopped by the sound of Lemony’s voice.

“Lola,” he spoke “Stay and chat a moment.”

She sighed and sat back down.

“Yeah, Lem?”

He paused, taking a moment to place B.B. comfortably in his lap.

“You and Klaus seem to be getting along fine,” he mentioned.

“Yes, and?” Lola asked.

He said nothing, just gave her a knowing sideways smile.

A slight flash of an expression crossed her face, something between surprise and embarrassment, only for her to fall back into a cool demeanor.

“What? Expect me to follow so closely in the steps of my mentor that I fall for the first Baudelaire that smiles at me?” she mocked.

“No,” Lemony responded calmly. “But I have known you since you were eleven, and I recognize that twitterpated look in your eye.”

“Twitterpated?” Lola questioned.

“A word which here means-”

She held up her hand to stop him.

“It’s a synonym for ‘infatuated.’ I wasn’t asking for a definition,” she told him. She stood from the table. “You’re getting ahead of yourself.”

She turned her back to him and began to pace as she spoke.

“We don’t even know if they want to stay yet. And even if they chose to continue to involve themselves even adjacently to the organization, even if I did have a thing for Klaus, even if those feelings were reciprocated to a noticeable degree…”

She paused.

“It’s not something I would encourage him to get into.”

Lemony stood quickly, slightly jostling B.B. in the process before placing her on his hip, at the sound of the slight twang of pain in Lola’s voice.

He approached her slowly.

“And why is that?” he asked gently.

“You know why,” she retorted without turning to him.

He came from behind her and placed his hand on her shoulder, careful to watch himself from accidentally touching her back.

“I know that both of you have suffered,” he told her. “Aren’t you the one that usually encourages stepping away from the misery? Allowing yourself to heal and not dwelling in pain?”

She scoffed. She placed her hand over his as if to push him off but didn’t.

“Big difference between dwelling on a girl that dumped you 20 years ago and not wanting to risk putting her son in a bad situation,” she said. She looked up at him with a crooked smile. “Hasn’t being a hopeless romantic caused you enough guff, Snicket?”

He returned her sad smile.

“Aren’t you the one who says that we’re allowed to be happy?”

Her face fell from the fallacy of a smile.

“Not if it means bringing others misery,” she argued.

His brows furrowed.

“I really wish you wouldn’t put all the blame on your shoulders,” he told her.

She looked away from him and shrugged, her grip on his hand tightening slightly.

He studied her for a moment.

“Lola,” he said. “I have to ask. Have you told them yet?”

He felt her tense under his touch.

“Not yet,” she told him. “They just got here.”

“Then when?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” she told him. “Eventually.”

“They have a right to know, don’t they?” Lemony asked, concern in his voice.

“Of course they do!” Lola nearly shouted. She turned quickly to face him, ripping his hand from her shoulder in the process. “They deserve to know everything at this point! I just…”

She trailed off, unable to find the words.

Lemony waited for her patiently.

B.B. let out a squeal as she reached for Lola to hold her. Lola obliged, taking her from Lemony’s arms.

“I don’t know what to do, Lem,” Lola admitted. “I know they should have all the facts. I don’t want to lie even by omission, but if they knew…”

She stroked her thumb over B.B.’s cheek before looking up to Lemony with pinprick tears in her eyes.

“They won’t trust me,” she told him. “They don’t have to stay, but as long as they’re here I can’t let them think they’ll be in danger all over again. I have to make it up to them!”

“Lola, this isn’t your responsibility.”

“It has to be someone’s!” Lola protested.

Lemony placed both hands on her shoulders as she held his niece tightly to her chest.

“Please don’t sabotage yourself,” he advised.

“Tch,” she scoffed. “I’d argue telling them right now is a bigger self-sabotage.”

As they spoke downstairs, Klaus closed his bedroom door with a soft click, trying to steady the beat of his heart before he addressed his sisters.

“What did you want to discuss, Klaus?” Violet asked.

He turned to them, wide grin on his face.

“I think we should stay here!”

His sisters stared at him wide-eyed for a moment, then Sunny also began to break out in a wide grin.

She squealed as she excitedly jumped into her brother’s arms.

“Yes!” she exclaimed. “B.B. and I agree!”

Violet looked between her siblings.

“Are you two sure?”

“Think about it Violet!” Klaus pitched. “The Collins’ family mission statement for this place isn’t wrong, if we’re under V.F.D’s jurisdiction, there’s no real reason for them to meddle. I’ve seen the kind of power and influence Lola has here, and she wants to protect us! And not in the fair-weather way we’re used to being promised that! She’ll take direct action! Not only that, but B.B. has an actual genetic relative here. Wouldn’t it be so much easier just to live in actual proximity to her uncle rather than trying to figure out a custody agreement? Speaking of Lemony, he has so many answers to questions we all have and he’s our genetic relative too! And… and…”

His face began to flush.

“I really like Lola,” he admitted. His eyes lit up with hope. “And I think she really likes me!”

Violet’s expression softened at the light in her brother’s eyes, but she couldn’t help but be concerned.

“Klaus…”

“If it really isn’t a good idea, we can still leave,” Sunny spoke up. “I don’t think Lola would make us stay if we didn’t want to.”

“Or if she thought we wouldn’t be safe,” Klaus added. “Not to mention Lemony wouldn’t either. Especially not with B.B. on the line.”

She looked between them once again.

“You both want to give this a try?”

“Yeah!” Sunny exclaimed. “B.B. too! She loves it here!”

“Please, Violet?” Klaus requested softly.

One more glance between them.

The hope in their eyes.

She smiled as her guard finally fell.

“Okay, we can give it a shot.”

Klaus and Sunny ran into their sister’s arms for a tight embrace.

Chapter 9:

“Hey, Vi. What’s your favorite color?” Lola asked.

She and Violet were measuring space on Violet’s bedroom door for her label, decidedly a painted label of Violet’s first initial.

“It’s red,” Violet replied.

“Huh, mine too,” Lola told her cheerily. “Weird. I associate you with the color purple.”

“It’s the name,” Violet half-sighed.

It had been a week since the Baudelaire family had come to a conclusion to stay on Hurricane Isle. Lola had taken the time to give them all a more permanent set up in the aboveground mansion, the last step being to officially label their bedroom doors.

“By the way, I was able to secure that meeting with a couple of the Underground engineers for you,” Lola continued. “Is tomorrow afternoon at three okay?”

Violet’s eyes lit up.

“Really?” she asked. She smiled widely and gave Lola a tight hug. “Oh, Lola, that’s perfect! Thank you!”

“No problem, darling,” Lola replied.

She easily returned the hug, but there was a slight noticeable strain to her voice.

“Are you alright?” Violet asked as she pulled away.

“Yeah, yeah,” Lola reassured her. “Just a bit of a sensitive day for my scars. It’s a day-by-day thing.”

“Oh, Lola…” Violet mused with concern. She brushed a bit of Lola’s hair away from her face. “I didn’t mean to hurt-”

She was interrupted by a tight squeeze around her waist.

“No, no! It’s okay!” Lola exclaimed. “I like hugs!”

Violet softened as she relaxed into the embrace. She found herself getting as charmed as her siblings had by this girl.

The girls heard a soft click as Klaus left his bedroom.

“Hey,” he greeted the two cheerfully.

“Hey,” they replied back.

“Am I interrupting something?” he asked.

“Oh no, not at all,” Violet replied letting her embrace with Lola fall away naturally.

“I still can’t believe you three decided to stay,” Lola muttered wistfully.

The two shared a soft smile towards her, informing her she’d said that part out loud. They chuckled a bit at her faux pas before continuing.

“We were just working on Violet’s door label,” Lola said. “You still want yours to be a blue K.B.? Kind of a similar style to Lemony’s?”

“I like the aesthetic,” Klaus admitted casually.

“Fair enough,” Lola replied. “I can get the paints when I go out later today. Kind of want to relax in my music room for a bit before I get started on errands. Ya’ll are welcome to join me anytime.”

She gave a small wave to them as she walked past them and into her music room.

Violet turned to her brother as the door shut with a click.

“So,” she teased “when do you actually plan on making your move on her, huh?”

Klaus hurriedly shushed her, pulling her into her bedroom for more privacy.

“Watch it!” he warned. “You know Lola’s hearing is ridiculous.”

“Granted,” Violet agreed. “But Sunny and I have been wondering. It’s been a week, Klaus. You two have very obvious chemistry, and yet you still aren’t official.”

“We just haven’t talked about it yet,” Klaus told her. “I’ve tried a couple of times, but I keep ending up too panicked.”

He took a deep breath.

“I think the situation with Fiona messed with my head more than I’d like to admit,” he said. “I think my subconscious is trying to force me to be cautious this time whether I want to or not.”

Violet placed a hand on his shoulder.

“If it makes you feel better, Lola doesn’t really remind me too much of Fiona,” she assured him. “In fact, she almost feels like the complete antithesis. She’s incredibly protective of us in spite of knowing us for such a short time. And she’s been nothing but respectful of our boundaries.”

“I’m honestly starting to wonder if I misread something,” Klaus admitted. “With as boisterous as she is, you would think if the feelings were mutual that she’d have said something to me by now.”

“Like I said, Lola seems to respect our boundaries. Through Lemony’s research, she knows we’ve all been through a lot of turmoil,” Violet reminded him. “Odds are, she’s waiting for you to make sure you’re comfortable first.”

Klaus paused.

“You know, it’s really nice to see her get along with you and Sunny so well,” he told her. “And have you seen her with B.B? She’s a natural.”

“She’s a bit of a wild one, but she has a good heart,” Violet agreed. “Very charismatic.”

“Do you think I should try again tonight?” he asked.

“I think you should try as many times as you can,” she told him. She gave him a hug. “However many times it takes for my baby brother to be happy.”

He chuckled.

“How long has it been since you called me ‘baby brother?’”

“Since before Sunny was born,” Violet sighed. “I don’t know. It felt right.”

He returned her embrace.

“I’ll make you proud, Vi. I love you.”

“I love you too. You already make me proud.”

It’d been a while since the Baudelaire children were in a home full of light and song and laughter, even longer since they had it with no expectation that it would soon all be stripped away.

A few hours later in the day, Lola giggled and laughed with B.B. on her hip as she dabbed a spot of paint on Sunny’s nose.

“You little cabbage, I bought two different paints because of you!” she teased. “Pink or yellow!”

“I like both!” Sunny giggled back.

Klaus happily took B.B. from Lola’s arms, joining in on the game.

“Hey!” Lola playfully protested as B.B. squealed happily in her adoptive father’s arms.

“You called my sister a cabbage!” he teased back.

“In Lola’s defense, Sunny can be a bit of a cabbage at times,” Violet said falling to her knees to hug Sunny tightly.

Sunny blew her sister a raspberry before falling into a giggling fit in her arms.

Lola happily fell into the Baudelaire sisters with a gentle topple.

“See?” Lola said. “An absolute menace like me!”

Sunny playfully nashed her teeth at Lola, and Lola at her in return.

“You aren’t the only one who bites, Sunshine!”

Another raspberry, this time in Lola’s direction.

Klaus chuckled at the display.

“How about since B.B. and Sunny share the room, both colors be used on their door?” he suggested.

“A fair point,” Lola conceded. She gave him a teasing smirk. “But who gets pink and who gets yellow, Mr. Baudelaire?”

“Simple,” Violet interjected. “Shouldn’t ‘Sunshine’ be yellow?”

“Ah, but that means your pride and joy gets pink,” Lola grinned.

“B.B. may be my daughter,” Violet agreed “but she and Sunny are both my pride and joy.”

Lola smiled.

It had been a while since her home had been filled with love and light and laughter.

She’d spend that day catering to the Baudelaire siblings’ every need to make her home theirs. Holding Kit’s beautiful daughter close to her chest. Catching that rare smile from Lemony’s shadowed face.

After dinner, she sat at her piano, her pen occasionally gliding over paper as she composed a new piece, something a bit more upbeat than she was used to.

She heard the door click open and closed behind her.

Of course she had already given the Baudelaires an open invitation to come into her music room, but the visits were always a pleasant surprise.

Well, it would be more of a surprise had it been one of the Baudelaire sisters.

“Hello, Mr. Baudelaire,” she greeted smoothly. She turned to face him. “Come to give me my nightly visit?”

Klaus replied with a bashful smile.

“I can’t just want to listen to you play, Miss Collins?”

“Of course,” Lola told him. She turned back to the keys. “Any requests? I’m working on a new song.”

“A new song?” Klaus asked, impressed. “Could I see?”

“Can you read music?” Lola asked inquisitively. “I haven’t written lyrics yet.”

“Ah, no,” Klaus admitted, going to join her on the bench. “But I’m impressed that you can.”

He glanced at the incomplete sheet music.

“You write music in pen? Isn’t that more difficult if you make a mistake?”

“Not to sound conceited, but I’ve been doing this so long that I very rarely make mistakes,” Lola told him. “If I do, that’s on me, and I either find a way to write in a way to fix it and make it work, or I start again.” She winked at him. “Haven’t had to completely start over yet.”

A smile and slight flush came to his face at her confidence.

“You know,” Klaus began “Violet once took piano lessons.”

“Really?” Lola asked with a grin. “How did that go?”

“With a dismembered piano and a new combination vegetable slicer and masher,” Klaus laughed nervously.

Lola stared at him wide-eyed for a moment, then chuckled as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Klaus, I have so much respect for you and your sisters,” she began. Then her eyes seemed to lose their light with a haunting expression, though she kept a smile on her lips. “But if Violet hurts any of my instruments, we’re gonna have a fuckin problem.”

He stared back with a surprised expression.

There was a moment of tensity before the two fell into a laughing fit.

“You wouldn’t,” Klaus teased her.

“Not to Violet, no,” Lola agreed. “Truth be told she intimidates me a bit.”

“Violet?” he asked.

“The girl who manufactured a grappling hook then climbed a forty-foot tower with a bleeding shoulder? Yes!” Lola retorted. “She’s a tank! A deceivingly wispy one, but a tank! Frankly, Sunny even more-so, but she and I have a similar unpredictability than ironically makes us more predictable to each other. Your sisters are badasses.”

Klaus chuckled.

“Yeah,” he sighed wistfully. “They are, aren’t they?”

Lola smiled.

“Makes me jealous I never had a sibling,” she replied.

She became soberly serious.

“Seriously, though. Tell your sister to keep her mitts off my shit,” she told him sternly.

Klaus held his hands up defensively.

“Noted.”

She gave him another smile as she turned back to the keys, a certain something flashing in her eyes.

Flirtation?

“You never submitted your request,” she informed him. “What’s your favorite song?”

“My favorite song?” Klaus asked, a slight blush across his face.

“Yeah!” Lola replied cheerfully. “I love knowing people’s favorite songs! It’s a great way to connect with them.”

“So, you admit Lemony’s a friend?” he teased.

She gave him a playful shove and a roll of the eyes.

He laughed, then hesitated before answering her.

“It’s Prisoner of Love,” he told her.

“You like soul?” Lola asked, a bit surprised.

“The Russ Columbo version,” he corrected.

“Jazz. That sounds more right.”

She sat herself up and ran her fingers over the keys she began to play. And out came her voice with a soft lilting that held him captive.

Someone that I belong to

Doesn't belong to me

Someone who can't be faithful

Knows that I have to be

Wonder if I am wrong to give her my loyalty

Why should I be a lone soul

Why can't I be my own soul

Alone from night to night you'll find me

Too weak to break the chains that bind me

I need no shackles to remind me

I'm just a prisoner of love

For one command I stand and wait now

From one who's master of my Fate now

I can't escape for it's too late now

I'm just a prisoner of love

What's the good of my caring if someone is sharing

Those arms with me

Although she has another

I can't have another

For I'm not free

She's in my dreams awake or sleeping

Up on my knees to her I'm creeping

My very life is in her keeping

I'm just a prisoner of love.

Love

“Your voice is amazing,” Klaus sighed.

She gave him a smile as she continued to play the instrumental.

“Thank you,” she replied.

“When did you learn piano?” Klaus asked. “Who taught you?”

Her playing stopped abruptly.

He looked to her, surprised at what seemed to be a slight panic.

She took a breath to steady her nerves.

“I taught myself to play,” she said. “I already knew the basics of music theory from when Papa taught me guitar. The first time I really played was when I was about three. I snuck my way into the orchestra pit at the theater.”

“During a show?” Klaus asked.

“Obviously not during a show,” Lola corrected. “I wouldn’t do that to other performers.”

“Was your mother rehearsing there, then?” he asked. “You mentioned she was a dancer.”

“No, no,” Lola told him with a chuckle. “Mama was a performer, but she never danced professionally. She definitely could have, though.”

She paused for a moment.

“Stand up a second, babe.”

He stood at the same time she did before watching her kneel down to open her piano bench.

She rustled around for a moment.

“There she is!” Lola announced, holding up a small tape recorder.

“Oh! Your record your music on a tape recorder?” Klaus asked.

“Among other things,” Lola confirmed. She opened it up and took a glance. “New tape too. Care to get added to my collection?”

“Maybe some other time,” Klaus declined shyly.

“I wasn’t going to ask you to sing,” she chuckled.

She pulled out a wooden box, opening it to reveal several audio tapes separated into two sections.

“The ones on the right are compositions, the ones on the left are… Well, you can call them a voice collection, I guess. I have a few recordings of people I haven’t heard in a long time. Call it morbid, but Papa had a similar habit with his video camera. I’d kill to find his old tapes. It’d kill me to know those were burned too.” Another slight pause as she took out one of her composition tapes. She gave Klaus a wide smile. “I think my recorder’s got some pretty good audio quality. I mean, sure, I could probably record my songs on records. I have the equipment. But I’m not quite vain enough to record albums of myself just for me.”

She replaced the new tape in the recorder with one from the box and pressed play. The sounds of an acoustic guitar played a nice melody.

“Just the instrumental,” she mused. “Even I get a bit unnerved hearing my own voice in certain situations.”

She stood and extended her hand to Klaus.

“Will you dance with me?”

Klaus flushed deeply.

“Dance with you?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Lola told him. “Mama taught me that dancing with someone is one of the greatest expressions of trust. It’s easy to get hurt if you and your partner aren’t on the same page. You need to learn each other’s rhythm. Trust each other’s movements and strengths. Lead and follow in equal amounts.”

He took her hand and gently pulled her towards him.

“You’re letting me lead,” he acknowledged.

“Why wouldn’t I?” she asked, placing a hand on his shoulder. “We’re the same height, so it isn’t like the lead is obvious.”

“I just thought…” he said, unable to find the words. He began the dance, letting them gently sway as she followed his footwork. “You’re a very bold person. I just wouldn’t expect you to follow. Traditional gender norms be damned.”

Lola smirked.

“I can lead.”

He let out a surprised grunt as she switched their positions smoothly, dipping him as casually as she breathed.

“But I’m making a point,” she informed him, his cheeks burning. She lifted him back to his standing position and returned the lead to him. “I’m trying to show you how much I want you to feel safe here. Comfortable. In control. I can take the lead when necessary, but I never want you to feel powerless. Never again.”

He smiled at her. A slight flush came to her cheeks as well seeing a smile come up to his eyes.

In a moment of boldness, he moved her into a spin and pulled her back in, a lead she smoothly followed.

“Wow, you’re a great dancer!” she praised him, pleasantly surprised.

“Thank you,” he replied. “But I don’t think I can ignore having such a skilled partner.”

“Smooth, Baudelaire,” she chuckled back.

They simply smiled at each other, dancing to each other’s rhythm. Enjoying the pleasant warmth the other gave them. They leaned in a bit closer before Lola froze and broke the dance as she rushed over to her tape recorder.

“Oh, shoot, the song ended!” she said. She pressed the pause button quickly before the next recording could begin. “Sorry, I heard the song stop and the next track has lyrics. Dancing to my own voice feels a little weird. I can fast forward or replace the tape. What do you-”

She was interrupted by the feeling of his hand grasping hers.

She turned to him.

“Klaus, you okay, babe?”

“Lola…” he muttered.

He took a breath to steel his nerves.

“How about a break from dancing?” he suggested. “Let’s sit and talk a moment.”

She blinked at him a moment then put on a cheery demeanor.

“Of course! We can dance again another time.”

She placed her tapes and recorder back in their proper places before sealing the piano bench back and inviting him to sit with her.

“I would really like to dance with you again,” he clarified as he sat with her.

“I’m glad we agree,” Lola told him.

He took her hand in his.

“This is alright?” he asked.

“I enjoy physical affection,” she reminded him. “It’s how I show people I care about them.”

He gave her hand a squeeze.

“I…” he hesitated. “I really like knowing you care so much about me.”

“I do,” she agreed.

He bit the inside of his cheek for a moment, then let go of his fear.

He closed his eyes as he leaned in to kiss her.

Only for her to move quickly, standing up and away from him.

He opened his eyes and looked to where she stood, noting the panic in her eyes.

His eyes widened as he began to feel mortified.

“Oh my God,” he muttered. “I’m so sorry. Did I misread something? I thought-”

“No, no! You didn’t misread anything!” Lola corrected him.

She placed her hands over her ears and turned her back to him.

“Of course you didn’t misread anything. Of course I like you. How could I not?”

Klaus furrowed his brow.

“Then I don’t understand,” he told her, standing up to meet her.

“Listen,” Lola told him, turning to face him. “Mutual feelings aside, this is a bad idea. You’ve been through a lot already and getting that level of involved with me doesn’t spell out anything good.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Klaus asked, frustrated. “From my point of view, I’ve been through a lot and you’re the first positive thing outside of my family that’s happened in a while.”

“Christ, haven’t you had enough bad luck for a lifetime?” Lola spat back.

“How on Earth is meeting you bad luck?!” Klaus exclaimed.

“I can’t fucking love people!” Lola shouted back, tears welling in her eyes.

He was taken aback for a moment.

“What?” he asked softly.

A tear fell from Lola’s eye as she tried to steady her voice.

“I don’t mean… like I can’t physically…”

She sniffled.

“I feel like I’m cursed, Klaus,” she admitted. “Ever since the fire, it feels like if I get too close to someone, if I love them, romantic, platonic, familial, something bad will happen to them. Everyone I love either dies or leaves me. I have maybe one example of that not being true, but I can recognize an outlier when I see one. And that person was still irreparably hurt.”

“Lemony?” Klaus asked.

She shook her head, sad smile on her face. She spoke in nearly a whisper as she fought back her tears.

“The worst part is that I’m not even talking about him.”

He examined her for a moment.

“You know my history so well,” he acknowledged. “But you have one just as tarnished that I haven’t even scratched the surface of.”

“It might be for the best you don’t learn too much,” she replied.

He sighed.

“You seem to be forgetting, however, that your logic applies to me too,” he reminded her.

“Klaus…”

“No,” he objected. He moved closer as he spoke. “Lola, by your logic, I’m bad luck too. By your logic, every death that happened is on my hands just because I was there.”

“Of course not!” she protested. “None of that-”

He held her by her wrists.

“If you absolve me of blame for my tragedies, you have to forgive yourself for yours,” he told her sternly. “Unless you’ve committed murder, I doubt anything you’re describing was directly your fault.”

Lola froze. She couldn’t find the words.

“Lola, do you think I deserve love?” he asked.

“Of course you do,” she replied sincerely.

“Then why don’t you?” he asked.

She could feel her heart beating in her ears as he placed his hand on her cheek.

She didn’t stop him this time.

She didn’t want to.

She let him kiss her like she’d been wanting to kiss him for a while.

He pulled away with a soft sound.

“Wow,” he muttered under his breath. “That was a lot better than the last time I kissed a girl.”

Lola chuckled before pulling him back in, her arms around his neck to pull him even closer, to kiss him again.

They pulled away with a nervous laugh.

Lola sighed.

“I still think this is the worst idea you’ve ever had,” she told him.

“I don’t know,” Klaus told her. “I think I’ve had worse. Impersonating a doctor wasn’t one of my brightest moments.”

“Visiting a sketchy optometrist without at least one of your sisters as an escort isn’t higher on that list?” Lola asked.

“Hey!” Klaus protested.

Lola laughed a bit at his expense.

“Sorry, sorry!” she exclaimed. She kissed his cheek softly as he wrapped his arms around her. “But if you really want me as a girlfriend, you’ll have to endure the teasing.”

“I know, I know,” he assured. “I know it’s affectionate. I don’t think you’d say something you believed to be actually hurtful.”

“Feel free to ring me in if I do though,” Lola replied. “I know my crassness doesn’t translate well to everyone.”

“Noted,” Klaus told her.

He pulled away to look at her.

“I really like you,” he told her.

She smiled.

“I like you too,” she replied.

“Going to stop running away?” he asked.

She squirmed a bit, making noncommittal sounds.

“I’m a little less adjusted than you are,” she admitted.

He smiled at her.

“That’s okay,” he assured. “I want to learn your rhythm. I want to follow your lead too.”

She studied him a moment, then pressed their foreheads together in a loving gesture.

“You’ve got it, baby. Anything for you.”

Chapter 10:

He waited near the stairs for her the next morning.

Breakfast was almost ready, and he was hoping to catch her before everyone sat down.

If she hadn’t slept in, that is.

A moment later he saw a flash of her as she slid down the banister.

“Hey!” she greeted him as she hopped off.

“Hey,” he replied bashfully.

“Everyone else is at the table, I assume?” she asked.

“Yes, breakfast is almost ready,” Klaus confirmed. “I was actually wondering-”

“How we’re breaking our relationship to everyone?” Lola asked with a smirk.

He smiled at her with blush.

“Glad to see you’re still interested.”

“Just don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Lola replied.

She extended her hand to him, allowing him to take it before they made their way over to the table.

“Mornin’,” Lola greeted everyone.

“Lola!” Sunny exclaimed cheerfully. She ran up to her and Klaus excitedly. “Guess what I made still morning!”

“What did you make, sunshine?” Lola asked, mirroring her enthusiasm.

“Crepes! With cream cheese and strawberry filling!” she beamed.

Lola gasped.

“Oh, you are my favorite!” she exclaimed.

She let go of Klaus’s hand and rushed to take her place at the table.

Sunny stuck out her tongue at her brother.

“Stop trying to steal my girlfriend,” he playfully scolded.

“Is she your girlfriend now?” Sunny teased back.

“Well, actually-”

“Klaus!” Lola shouted, waving him over as she placed a plate down for both of them.

“Good morning, you two,” Violet greeted them as Klaus sat down.

B.B. squeaked cheerfully as she grabbed a small piece of crepe cut up in front of her.

“Perhaps we should invest in a highchair,” Lemony proposed from his seat. “We can’t have her eating in our laps forever.”

“Aw, why not?” Lola asked, leaning over to give B.B. a boop on the nose. “Let’s let her get spoiled!”

“Absolutely not,” Klaus replied with a smile.

Breakfast went ahead as normal. With every passing moment Klaus nearly cursed Lola’s righthandedness. Perhaps Sunny didn’t notice before. Perhaps he and Lola had gotten so used to casual touch that no one found it too extraordinary for the two to hold hands. Maybe if he said something-

“By the way, I’m dating your brother,” Lola said bluntly in a moment of silence.

He froze, the sound of his fork clattering to his plate.

The others at the table stopped to stare at the two of them for a brief moment. Among B.B,’s babbling, as she was a bit too young to understand.

The shock melted into soft smiles, followed by a slight chuckle from Lemony.

“Well, there was no need to embarrass him, Lola,” he told her, returning to his meal.

“I’m not embarrassed!” Klaus protested, pinkness in his face betraying him.

“Way to stick up for me, babe, but I’m not taking anything personally from the guy who’s been pining for 20 years,” Lola replied.

“We’re happy for you,” Violet praised them, placing a hand on Lola’s shoulder. “You’re cute together.”

“It’s about time!” Sunny chimed in. She became suddenly stern. “You better not hurt our brother, though!”

“Trust me, I told him this was a terrible plan,” Lola half-joked.

“No, it’s not,” Klaus reiterated, taking a finally presented opportunity to take her hand. He looked between his sisters. “Lola isn’t going to hurt me. You both know that.”

“Trusting,” Lola teased. She looked between the Baudelaire sisters. “But he’s right that I have no intent to hurt him. It’s actually a pretty big fear of mine.”

“I don’t think that’s warranted,” Violet tried to comfort her. “We trust you.”

“If you do hurt him though, we’ll get you back!” Sunny threatened with a smile.

“Sunny!” her siblings scolded.

“Girl, if I mess up that badly, I encourage you to take me out,” Lola agreed nonchalantly.

“Lola!” Violet and Klaus scolded her.

“What?” Lola protested. “Wouldn’t be the first time you had questionable taste in girls.”

Klaus sighed.

“Be that as it may, I do not believe this is a case of history repeating itself.”

He gave a subtle nod towards Lemony.

“In any manner.”

“I saw that,” Lemony told him casually.

Klaus shrank a bit.

“Sorry.”

He turned back to Lola.

“I mean it, though. I have no intent to hurt you either.”

She gave him a soft smile and a squeeze of the hand.

“That’s good to hear,” she told him.

She released her hand from his with a bit of smugness and went back to her plate.

“I do regret to inform you that I can’t switch up hands like your sister here.”

Violet chuckled at the mention.

“Oh, right,” Klaus agreed, a bit embarrassed.

Breakfast continued on. When they were finished clearing and cleaning their dishes, the children began taking off upstairs.

“Lola,” Lemony called out.

She sighed and gave the others a quick smile.

“Meet you all upstairs.”

“What is it?” Klaus asked.

Lola shrugged.

Klaus gave Lemony a quick glance, but noticed he couldn’t discern anything from his shadowy expression.

He gave Lola and nod and a quick kiss on the cheek before following after his sisters and ward.

Lola watched him run upstairs, only turning to Lemony once she saw he was gone.

“What?” she nearly growled.

“There’s no need to be hostile,” Lemony replied calmly.

“Maybe next time be more cryptic and suspicious, Lemon Strudel. That won’t set off alarm bells,” she replied sarcastically.

He shrugged in slight agreement before he stood and approached her.

“I’m happy for you. I want you to know that,” he said.

“Thank you?” she questioned.

“I mean it,” he reiterated. He placed a hand on her shoulder. “But that being said, I have my concerns. I know for a fact you haven’t told all three Baudelaire children. But does he know yet?”

She backed away from his touch, an expression of fear over her face.

He sighed.

“You haven’t,” he assessed.

She turned her back to him, arms crossed over her chest.

“My relationship isn’t even a day old yet. You really expect me to give it up that quickly?”

“Lola, this is information you should have disclosed before the relationship became official,” Lemony scolded.

“I didn’t expect him to move in so fast!” she spat back, turning to him. “Don’t you think I tried to stall? Don’t you think I told him getting involved with me was a bad idea?”

“Lola, that part of your past isn’t the issue he-”

“Then quit bringing up this one!” she shouted back. She covered her ears with her hands, becoming more and more stressed. “If you’re so sure it won’t ruin everything, why don’t you tell them?”

He took a breath.

“Because it isn’t my secret to tell,” he told her.

“Bullshit!” she snapped with a malicious grin.

Another breath, a slight growl as he breathed out. No point giving in to her anger.

“Do you really want this to come from anyone but yourself?” he asked.

Her hands fell from her ears with a sigh. Her shoulders slumping in defeat.

“It’s not like I’d be justifying anything,” she told him. “But I know you’re right. I just don’t know how to tell them. I’m not ready.”

“You may never be ready, Lola,” he told her gently, placing his hand back on her shoulder. “But you’re a brave and strong young woman with a good head on her shoulders. A phrase which here means, you have a good heart and the Baudelaires care about you. You haven’t given them any real reason not to trust you.”

She placed her hand over his to comfort herself.

“But,” he continued “if you keep lying to them and they find out you’ve been lying to them, that could change very very fast.”

She squeezed his hand tighter.

“I’m scared, Lem.”

He brushed the hair from his face with his free hand.

“I know, dear. I know.”

“I don’t think there’s a right answer,” she told him, tears in her eyes.

“There might not be,” he agreed.

The tears fell.

“What if I lose them?” she asked.

He hesitated, trying not to hurt her. But he couldn’t find the words.

“Then we keep up making sure they’re safe. And even then, you won’t be alone,” he said.

“You can’t honestly be okay with being the only one stuck with me?” she smiled through her tears.

“Lola…”

“What if you lose B.B.?” Lola asked.

He froze, realizing that that was an actual possibility.

He took a breath.

“Then she’s still in the custody of people who love her and want the best for her,” he said. “That’s all I want.”

She looked up at him for a moment and wiped the tears away from her face.

“I’m sorry,” she told him sadly.

“Me too.”

Lola took a moment to calm herself, Lemony by her side.

He tried to engage her with small talk, calm her nerves, until he could feel his presence adding to her anxieties once he’d overstayed his welcome.

He gave her one more reassuring pat on her shoulder before disappearing into the darkness of his office.

She came up the stairs to find her music room’s door slightly ajar.

She found Violet and Klaus sitting on the couch inside. They paused to look up at her.

“Hey, ya’ll,” she greeted them, closing the door behind her.

“Hey,” they greeted her with warm smiles.

“Where are the girls?” she asked.

“B.B. wanted her toys so she and Sunny are in their room,” Violet explained.

“So, what did Lemony need?” Klaus asked.

Lola froze a moment. She quickly controlled her breathing and sat down with the two of them casually.

“What? You didn’t hear?” she asked, smiling and fluffing up her hair nonchalantly.

“Not the words, no,” Klaus confirmed. “But the tone…”

“We weren’t trying to eavesdrop,” Violet explained. “But you sounded a bit upset.” She placed a hand gently on Lola’s shoulder. “Are you alright?”

Lola’s fingers fell from her hair as the smile fell from her face. She couldn’t keep up the act when they were genuinely concerned.

She sighed.

“Lemony was bringing something I need to handle to my attention,” she admitted.

She glanced between them. The anxiety welled up in her chest, and the words caught in her throat.

Another sigh.

“I’m not in the position to handle it quite yet, I don’t think,” she told them.

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Klaus asked softly, placing another gentle hand on her arm.

She flinched at his insistence.

“No, no, babe,” she cooed. She pressed her forehead to his in an affectionate gesture. “Nothing like that.”

“Is it related to the organization?” Violet asked, concerned.

Lola replied with a noncommittal hum.

“Sort of,” she admitted, turning to her.

She stood quickly, then turned to face them with a grin.

“But I’m not in the mood for dwelling,” she told them. “What strikes your fancy this morning, hm?”

The siblings glanced at each other for a moment then returned her smile.

“I’d hate to be a third wheel,” Violet told her.

“Nonsense,” Lola told her. “If Klaus is okay with you hanging out with us, I am too.”

Klaus gave his sister a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

“Alright then,” Violet agreed. “I suppose I wouldn’t mind listening to you play before that meeting you set up for me this afternoon.”

“Oh, Lola’s working on a new song!” Klaus remembered. “Could you show us that?”

“I’m a little odd about my unfinished pieces,” Lola admitted, sitting down and her piano bench. She gave the two a mischievous grin. “How about you come show me what you remember from your piano lessons, darling?”

Violet’s jaw dropped slightly.

“You told her about that?” she scolded her brother. He laughed in return.

“What?” Klaus asked. “I was just making conversation!”

Violet flushed slightly and hid her face.

“Oh, I was terrible,” she whined.

“You might not be if you hadn’t massacred that poor percussion instrument,” Lola playfully scolded. She patted the bench next to her.

Violet sat with her and attempted to place herself in proper posture.

“Wait,” she paused. “Pianos are percussion instruments? I thought they were a type of string.”

“They’re both!” Lola told her cheerily. “Now show me what you remember.”

Chapter 11:

Sunny wandered into the music room to join Lola and her siblings once B.B. had been settled for a nap. The Baudelaire sisters spent their time with the couple into the afternoon when B.B. was woken up and Violet was expected in the Underground.

Soon it was just Lola and Klaus in the privacy of the music room. Lemony, of course, always encouraged privacy.

“Come here, babe.”

He did as asked to receive a kiss.

He smiled widely at her. Then his face fell bashfully.

“Oh,” he muttered. “We’re alone now.”

“So?” Lola laughed. “We’ve been alone together before.”

“Not as a couple,” Klaus reminded her.

She snuggled into him.

“Other than the fact we’re kissing, and we can be a little more intimate with the affection, what’s changed?” she asked.

He paused a moment, unable to answer her.

“I suppose not much,” he admitted. He blushed and negated his eyes from her. “Though hearing you say the word ‘intimate’ is making me nervous.”

“You know what I meant,” she told him. “The relationship just started. I’m not expecting anything big.”

She blushed herself.

“Frankly, the idea of moving that fast makes me nervous too. I’m not very experienced in romance.”

His eyes widened in surprise.

“You?” he asked. “But you’re so confident!”

“That doesn’t mean that I’ve had luck with romance,” Lola told him. “Remember that whole ‘people die or leave’ thing. That, unfortunately, extends into that area.”

“I’m not your first kiss, am I?” he asked.

“No, no,” she corrected. “But I’m not yours either, so don’t take offense.”

He chuckled at her joke.

She smiled at him, then sighed.

“Yeah, I’ve never actually had a romantic relationship before,” she told him. “I’m a bit of a flirt, but romantic feelings don’t come to me super easily it seems. Sure, I’ve had crushes, but they rarely went anywhere. Before you, I considered myself to have two great loves.” She looked over at him. “Both drastically unrequited.”

“How so?” he asked.

“First one just wasn’t interested,” Lola explained. “To be frank with you, she just wasn’t interested in people like that.”

She smiled softly to herself.

“But she was a wonderful friend.”

“What happened?” Klaus asked.

Lola paused for a moment.

“She died,” she said. “V.F.D actually tried to take me twice. She was there the first time, she tried to stop them, she got hurt.”

He froze, understanding the weight of her words.

“That means… you saw-”

“But, yeah, after that botched attempt was when they took me for real,” Lola interrupted as if she didn’t hear him. She continued on. “The second one is actually a very good thing it was unrequited. Had it been requited, it would mean that she was a pretty evil person. She was a full-fledged adult, and I was just a kid with a pretty out-of-control crush. I don’t know if she was oblivious to that or if she was doing her best not to hurt me, but I always knew I never had a chance.”

Klaus studied her for a moment. She gave him a smile.

“I mean, what would I do with a pregnant older woman anyway?” she sighed with a dramatic flair.

Klaus’s eyes widened again.

“Kit Snicket?!”

“Kit Snicket!” Lola laughed. “Apparently ‘snarky glasses-wearing middle child’ is my type. Not sure what that says about Scarlett, though.”

She pinched his cheek teasingly.

“Realistically, I’m just attracted to intelligence with a hint of rebellion.”

Klaus laughed as he pushed her hand away.

“I wouldn’t call myself rebellious,” he chuckled.

“You literally took a smack to the face and kept running your mouth,” Lola smirked.

Klaus froze, then squirmed uncomfortably.

Lola’s face fell.

“I’m sorry,” she told him. “I shouldn’t have tried to make light of that.”

“It’s alright,” he told her. “You aren’t completely wrong.”

Her face twisted into a guilty expression. He grasped her hand tightly.

“So,” he began “if that Scarlett girl wasn’t attracted to people, and obviously Kit didn’t kiss you, where did your first kiss happen in this timeline?”

Her smile came back half-heartly.

“It’s kind of stupid,” she told him.

“Tell me anyway,” he coaxed.

“Before I even met Lettie or Kit, I was at a park with my godfather,” she explained. “I was nine, I think. My godfather said something that kind of pissed me off, so I made an impulse decision to get him back. I don’t think that poor little boy knew what hit him.”

He laughed.

“Why does it not surprise me that your first kiss was out of spite?”

“Because I’ve made my impulse control issues incredibly obvious,” Lola replied with a slight grumble.

“You’re the rebellious one,” Klaus informed her.

“Hey, I don’t have an issue with authority. I have an issue with stupid authority,” she defended.

The two laughed together.

“I still think your first kiss was better than mine,” he told her.

“I didn’t even know his name,” she laughed.

“Yeah, but whoever that was didn’t openly betray you,” he sighed.

“True, true,” Lola conceded.

She hugged him tight with a slight pounce.

“I have an idea,” she told him. “Let’s head down to the library. Find something to read together.”

He smiled widely.

“That sounds wonderful!” he agreed.

“Nothing by Melville,” Lola offered.

He chuckled.

“Definitely nothing by Melville.”

In fact, Lola would actually fulfill a promise to him. New books and authors as far as the eye could see far before they hit shelves.

Today they read them together, snuggled up in each other’s arms.

She closed her eyes as she rested her head on his chest.

“You’re not going to be able to keep up with the pages,” he warned.

“Read it to me,” she retorted. “You read a bit faster than I do anyway.”

They spent their afternoon like this until Violet’s return at dinner.

Everyone in the household shared their meal, followed by a short break between the couple.

Not every second could be taken by the other, after all.

Though once night had fallen, they crossed paths again in the hall.

“Hey,” Lola greeted.

“Hey,” Klaus replied.

“Headed to bed?” she asked.

“I just put B.B. down,” he told her. “Sunny didn’t exactly want to sleep, but I managed to bribe her with a bedtime story.”

“Huh,” Lola mused. “Odd to think about Sunny acting her age. Even she isn’t immune to fairytales?”

“At least not the vicious Brothers Grimm’s versions of them,” Klaus laughed nervously.

“Ha!” Lola laughed. “My type of kid.”

“What about you?” he asked.

“I actually finished that composition I was working on,” she reported with a grin.

“Really?” Klaus asked excitedly. “Can I hear it?”

“Sure,” Lola told him. “Or you can wait until tomorrow. I kinda wanted to show Violet and Sunny too. I want all three of your feedback.”

“Oh,” Klaus muttered disappointed. “I was actually hoping to find an excuse to spend more time together. I feel like I jumped the gun on running off earlier.”

“Psh, ‘running off’,” Lola scoffed. “You wanted to spend time with your family. That isn’t a crime. Violet was excited to tell you about her meeting with the engineers, and I had a project I wanted to finish. No harm done.”

Klaus blushed as he fidgeted nervously.

“I guess I’m not ready for the day to be over,” he admitted.

“It doesn’t have to be,” she told him. “I can play the song for you, or…”

She walked past him and opened her door, stopping midway through the threshold to address him.

“We can spend more time together otherwise.”

His heart jumped in his throat at her suggestion. She chuckled.

“What? Scared because it’s a girl’s room?” she teased, wiggling her fingers as if she was telling ghost stories.

“K-kind of, yes,” he admitted. “I’ve never been in a girl’s bedroom before. Other than my sister’s.”

She rolled her eyes playfully.

“It isn’t like that,” she told him. She grinned and pinched his cheek. “Unless sweet little Klaus Baudelaire has his mind in the gutter!”

“Cut it out!” he demanded, swatting her hand away, face burning like a flame.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry!” she laughed. She gave him a more sobered smile. “Look, unless you have perverted intentions, which feels quite out of character for you, there’s no reason to feel weird about spending time in my room. I don’t plan on trying any funny business either.”

Klaus studied her a moment.

“Tell you what,” she offered. “We don’t even have to stay in my room. We can just use it as a shortcut.”

“Shortcut?” Klaus asked.

He yelped as she pulled him roughly into her room.

“Come on!” she giggled.

He looked around as she dragged him through to the other side of the room.

As her plaque would suggest, her room looked much like a dressing room with a bed in the corner near the door, bedside tables with built-in bookshelves on either side. The walls were the same cream color as his bedroom next door, though hers were adorned with posters of bands and what he assumed to be musicals she enjoyed. He noticed two adjoining doors on the same wall as her bed, one leading to a walk-in closet he knew the bedrooms had, the other he assumed to lead to her personal bathroom she’d mentioned before. Finally, on the far side of the room where she’d dragged him, a tall personal bookshelf next to a vanity with bulbs in the mirror as if presented for a starlet.

While he’d noticed Lola did wear make-up, minimal make-up, a bit of eyeliner, perhaps a bit of mascara, and no one could particularly ignore the shade of red she chose to wear for lipstick, but make-up none-the-less, a full dressing room vanity seemed extravagant even for the theatrical way Lola presented herself.

She had pulled him to a window near the vanity where he could see the unusual lack of rain and a tree with its branches hanging down.

“Do you trust me, Mr. Baudelaire?” Lola asked.

“What?” he asked, his attention coming back to her.

“Do you trust me?” she asked again softly.

Heat rose to his face as he studied her soft expression.

“Yes,” he replied, entranced.

Her smile widened.

She gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek.

Before opening the window and launching herself out of it.

“Lola!” Klaus shouted.

She grinned at him as she hung onto the tree outside.

“Do me a favor,” she told him. “Take that stick leaning on my bookshelf there and prop the window open.”

He stared at her incredulously, breathing hard at the panic attack she’d just given him.

“You’re insane,” he stated.

She replied with a slight nonchalant shrug.

With that, he cautiously did as she asked and propped open the window.

She reached her hand out to him.

“Still trust me?”

He looked at her hand, then back at her gentle smile.

“Yes?” he answered more cautiously.

“I’m not going to let you fall,” she assured.

He sighed.

Literally. She wouldn’t let him fall literally. He knew that. Figurately, he had already fallen for her.

He took her hand.

She guided him carefully out of the window and helped him climb up with her.

“I’ve got you,” she coaxed softly.

“A bit of a climber, aren’t you?” he joked with her.

“A bit,” she smiled back at him.

She guided him to a lower part of the mansion’s roof.

“Careful,” she warned him. “It didn’t rain a whole lot today, but it can get slick up here.”

She held him steady as they sat down together.

“You do this a lot?” he asked.

“More than I probably should,” she admitted. She pointed his attention upward. “But it’s always worth it.”

He looked up where she pointed, and his eyes widened at the sight.

Stars in the clearest night sky he’d ever seen, reaching endlessly.

“Woah,” he breathed.

“Beautiful, right?” she asked. She turned her gaze from him to the stars above them. “It’s so rare for the clouds to part this much, but when they do, you see everything. It’s so clear you can even see the curvature of the Earth when you look straight up.”

He tilted his head further.

“You’re right!” he exclaimed.

She smiled as she looked away from the view, much preferring to watch his excitement.

“You lived in the city most of your life, didn’t you?” she asked. “It must’ve been hard to see the stars with that much light pollution.”

“It was,” he confirmed, still staring at the sky. He blinked a few times, coming to a realization. “And after that…” He turned his gaze back to her. “Lola, I don’t actually remember the last time I looked at the stars like this. Even on the other island, I tried so hard to keep busy on quiet nights so I wouldn’t think about… well, everything! Not to mention I was partially caring for a newborn for part of that.”

Lola’s brow furrowed and she took his hand.

“It’s just…” he continued. He squeezed her hand tightly. “I haven’t felt this safe in a very long time.”

He gazed into her eyes, bringing her hand to his pounding heart.

“Lola Shay Collins, you are amazing,” he mused. He smiled as tears came to his eyes. “You’ve helped me feel safe again. I feel normal even in this still incredibly abnormal situation. After everything that happened…”

He pressed his forehead to hers in a loving gesture.

“I never thought I could be happy like this again.”

Her breath shuddered a bit at his words. She pulled away from him to wipe his tears away.

“I wish I could erase all of it,” she breathed, fighting back tears of her own.

“I feel crazy saying this, but if it means meeting you, then it was almost worth it,” Klaus said.

Lola smiled and shook her head at him.

“Then you are crazy.”

The smile never left him as he nuzzled his cheek into her hand, humming a content sigh.

As she stroked her thumb over his cheek, enjoying the content look on his face, Lemony’s voice began to ring in her head.

Tell him.

Her own smile began to fade. She felt thankful for his eyes being closed.

Tell him.

Especially since she may never see that smile again.

She has to-

TELL HIM.

“Hey, Klaus?”

His eyes fluttered open. His smile fell as he saw her expression.

“Yes?” he asked. “Is everything okay? What’s wrong?”

She hesitated.

The worry in his eyes…

She took a breath and leaned in to kiss his cheek to calm him.

“Do me a favor,” she told him. “Don’t tell Lemony that I climb up here. I don’t want him to worry.”

He studied her curiously, then his eyes widened. She hadn’t realized what her words and actions implied, but it wasn’t as if his assumptions were too off the mark.

“Lola…” he whispered softly, suddenly feeling she was more delicate than before.

In the end, she couldn’t actually tell him the truth she’d meant to, but she accidentally revealed another.

And yet, she didn’t even realize.

She looked back up to the stars.

“Do you know any stories about the stars?” she asked. “I know you probably know tons about actual astronomy, but what about mythology?”

She pointed to two different spots in the sky.

“Like Orion and the Pleiades.”

He leaned in closer to her, putting an arm around her waist.

“There are actually a few different mythologies concerning Orion, but they do all seem to end with him being placed among the stars,” he continued her thought.

“Chasing the Pleiades and chased by Scorpio,” Lola nodded.

“It’s agreed that following Orion’s position in the sky helped keep track of harvest seasons,” Klaus added.

“Good to know he had some use,” she said, curling up in his arms. “I can’t say I enjoy the tellings where he’s taken out by a scorpion rather than the ones where Athena shoots him for harassing her friends.”

“What about the ones where Athena is tricked into shooting him by Apollo?” he asked with a grin.

“Oh, I hate those!” she exclaimed. “Those are the ones that insist Athena had feelings for Orion, and that Apollo was weird about that! I mean, I hear that brothers can get protective over their sisters’ choice in partners, but that’s just stupid.”

Klaus giggled.

“Yeah, I didn’t much like that Ben guy Violet used to hang around, but I wouldn’t try to get rid of him like that,” he admitted.

“That’s because it’s none of your damn business,” Lola told him with a nudge.

“True,” Klaus sighed.

“Should we head back in?” Lola suggested.

“If you want to,” Klaus told her. He nuzzled up to her. “I actually don’t mind it here with you for bit longer.”

She gave him another smile.

“You got it, babe.”

The two shared a kiss under the moonlight.

After more time and conversation Lola helped him back through the window, kissed him quickly, and let the two of them part ways to get some sleep.

While Lola stayed in her room, Klaus made his way down to the library. He needed something new to read and hadn’t quite built up his personal collection yet.

He entered the library doors and started searching through the shelves.

He had his mind on mythologies now. The odd Greek tragedy perhaps.

He flinched at the slight movement in the shadows and turned to see a familiar elusive figure.

“Oh, Lemony!”

Lemony himself flinched at the sudden voice.

“Klaus!” he exclaimed. “I’m surprised you’re here so late. Are you having trouble sleeping?”

“I was actually looking for something to read in order to help me sleep,” Klaus explained, approaching him. “What are you doing down here?”

“I was looking for one of my old books,” he explained. “I’m writing one now that takes place within the same universe, but it’s been so long since I’ve revisited it that I’m worried about an accidental continuity error. A phrase which here means-”

“You’re concerned about breaking your own rules,” Klaus concluded.

“Exactly,” Lemony confirmed. “From my experience, we fiction writers tend to keep a catalogue of our stories in our heads, but-” he reached for a book off the shelf and began to skim through it. He began muttering to himself. “Where is it? Where is it? There it is. I thought so.”

He placed the book back as he continued his previous thought.

“But not all of us have an eidetic memory like you do,” he concluded.

“You’ll define ‘continuity error’ but not ‘eidetic memory’?” Klaus asked.

“Should I have used the misnomer term ‘photographic memory’?” Lemony asked with a slight humor. He sighed. “You’ll find that habit of mine seems to have a mind of its own. When it first developed, I assumed it was a phase I would grow out of. I was very obviously wrong. As Lola says, it’s developed into a tick. A term which here means I literally can’t help it.”

He flinched realizing what he’d said, then gave an exasperated sigh.

“As you can well tell,” he continued. “Lola actually theorizes it may be an echolalia I developed that never went away, but I’m not sure it truly fits the definition.”

“Echolalia?” Klaus asked.

“A phrase which here means ‘a phenomenon seen in neurodivergent people in which certain sounds, words, or phrases are repeated ad nauseum,’” Lemony explained.

“That one was on purpose,” Klaus pointed out.

“Yes,” Lemony confirmed with a small smile.

“Are you neurodivergent?” Klaus asked.

“Aren’t we all?” Lemony replied.

Klaus thought for a moment, fidgeting a bit.

“Speaking of Lola,” he began “you’ve known her for a long time, haven’t you?”

“Three years,” he confirmed. “Why do you ask?”

He fidgeted a bit more.

“I just had a conversation with her,” Klaus explained. “There was something she wanted to tell me… Something she didn’t want to admit to me.”

“Oh?” Lemony perked up. His face fell into a nervous expression. “You’re taking it better than I thought you would.”

“Well, it isn’t exactly her fault, is it?” Klaus asked.

“Of course not!” Lemony agreed.

Klaus held himself, his anxiety rising.

“Lola…” he started. “Lola has impulse issues. Has she ever done anything drastic since you met her?”

Lemony’s eyes widened. His hand went to his mouth as he leaned on the bookshelf to keep himself steady.

“I didn’t realize she’d be willing to admit so much,” he muttered.

“She didn’t actually,” Klaus said. “But from something she said…”

He swallowed.

“It wasn’t hard to infer.”

Lemony nodded solemnly.

“That’s how I found out about that part too,” he said. He turned to face the boy in front of him. “This is an incredibly sensitive topic. She and I have never spoken at length on it. She doesn’t want to.”

“I figured,” Klaus told him. “I’m just worried about her safety.”

“From my knowledge, she hasn’t attempted anything in a long time,” Lemony told him. “Definitely not in the time I’ve known her. But I can’t speak on her thoughts.”

He reached out and placed a hand on Klaus’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry to say that I have seen her sink into the depths of despair, but not to a point where she couldn’t be pulled back out, even slowly. She’s a very strong girl, Klaus.”

“She has to be after what she’s gone through,” Klaus told him.

He placed his hand over Lemony’s.

“The two of you really care about each other, don’t you?” he asked.

“Immensely,” Lemony confirmed. He sighed. “But she blames herself very easily. She already has the weight of my siblings on her back.”

“Both siblings?” Klaus asked.

Lemony nodded.

“She blames herself for my siblings getting involved in what happened,” he explained. “She wanted to get involved much sooner, but Jacques convinced her to let him go in her place. He was worried about her safety. And after that…”

He became misty-eyed.

“She begged Kit not to follow after we’d all heard about what happened in the Village of Foul Devotees. She said that if Kit left, her baby would be born an orphan.”

A haunted expression crossed his face.

“I’ve never heard a louder, more desperate scream in my life.”

Klaus teared up at the thought of Lola in that much pain.

Lemony gave him a sad, reassuring smile.

“With all that weight, she’s scared of appearing too close to me,” he told him. “I know that. So, it’s easier to play her game. I know her. I know how she shows affection through the teasing and insulting nicknames. I know her annoyance towards me is mostly a wall she puts up. I know that in the small bouts of physical affection, she’s saying she cares, even if they sometimes need to be hidden behind closed doors.”

His smile became more genuine as he stood tall.

“And I am so proud of her for being honest about the way she feels about you.”

“She’s already told me she’s scared of losing me too,” Klaus told him.

“And yet, she’s let you in,” Lemony pointed out.

Klaus sighed.

“I want to protect her,” he admitted.

“You are,” Lemony encouraged.

He reached out, grabbed a book off the shelf, and handed it to Klaus.

“Here,” he said. “You said you needed a book to help you sleep. Here’s one written by an associate of mine.”

“Another V.F.D member?” Klaus asked, taking the book.

“Somewhat,” Lemony replied. “He’s an old friend. My legal representative when I need to make appearances concerning my work.”

He leaned in.

“I’m technically still on the lamb,” he muttered.

Klaus smiled at him, then down at the book.

“Thank you for talking with me,” Klaus told him.

“Anytime,” Lemony replied. “Now, please go get some sleep.”

Chapter 12:

“Lemony, have you seen Lola?” Klaus asked.

“Not since breakfast, no,” Lemony replied. “I admit it’s making me nervous.”

“Nervous?” Klaus asked anxiously, recalling their conversation a few nights prior.

“Nervous, not anxious,” Lemony clarified. “Not like something is wrong. More like-”

“SNICKET!”

“-she’s up to something,” Lemony sighed.

Their attention, along with the attention of the Baudelaire sisters and young B.B., turned to the top of the stairs. Lola stood confidently, wide grin on her face, a sword in each hand.

“Spar with me,” she demanded her mentor.

Lemony caught the sword she’d thrown down to him by the handle.

“Here?!” Lemony questioned her.

“Here!”

She’d barely finished the word as she pounced down upon him, brandishing her own sword against him as he expertly blocked her.

She landed on her feet as he knocked her back.

With every slash and thrust, he kept his stance, blocking and parrying every move.

“Do you have any idea how irresponsible you’re being?!” he scolded her between blows.

“Oh, c’mon, Lemon Juice! We’ve had sword fights in the living room before!” Lola retorted.

“Not with four other children in the room!”

“Oh, so I’m the only child you’re willing to endanger!”

With that last line, she’d put her guard down, opening her up for an attack of his own.

She flinched with her parry as he struck back at her.

“No,” he replied. “But you’re the one who insisted I teach you to swordfight.”

The Baudelaire children watched back in awe at the display, Violet holding B.B. securely to her chest. Not only had they positioned themselves away from the fight, but Violet took notice how Lemony and Lola had positioned themselves. While Lola had started the spar with reckless abandon, she and Lemony had actually blocked themselves at a distance away from the other four people in the room. While Klaus took notice of the same thing, he also couldn’t help but worry about the possibility of the two injuring each other.

Lemony smirked at his young protégée, showing a mischievousness in his eyes the Baudelaires hadn’t yet seen in him.

“You’re getting sloppy again,” he told her.

He struck again, causing her to block.

With each blow, her confident demeanor was replaced with struggle until he successfully knocked her on her backside with a grunt, causing her to drop her sword.

Lemony held his chin up as he pointed his sword near her chest.

“What have I told you about getting cocky?” he scolded her. “Never go into these fights thinking you’ll win. You have to take them seriously.”

Lola rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Lola…” he warned.

“Alright, alright!” she admitted defeat. She sighed and looked away, a redness to her face. “I just wanted to show off, okay?”

“I know,” Lemony told her. “But you faltered on your stance, making you easier to disarm. If this was anyone but me, you could have gotten hurt. Frankly, we’re both lucky to not have been injured.”

He brushed off his lapel with his free hand.

“I wasn’t trying to hurt you,” she told him sheepishly.

“I know,” he told her. “In fact, I can tell how much you were trying not to.”

“You can quit pointing your sword at me now,” she grumbled.

“Not until yours is out of reach,” Lemony smirked back.

She glared at him. Then sighed with a smile of her own.

“Damn it, Snicket, you know me too well.”

He kicked her sword away from her reach before lowering his. Then he offered his hand to help her up, which she accepted.

“Is that a habit you two have?” Klaus asked, as he watched Lola come back up to her feet.

“Not one I consent to,” Lemony told him.

“Pft, big baby,” Lola mocked.

“You two are really close, huh?” Violet asked.

“Ew, no!” Lola retorted. She scoffed and turned her back as she walked away from the topic, waving her hand in a dismissive manner. “Lemonsquare is just doing his job as my mentor. He’d be a super crap at it is he didn’t teach me everything he knows about the field.”

Lemony rolled his eyes as he began picking up Lola’s sword, hoping to put everything away.

Sunny bounced excitedly from her spot on the couch, stars in her eyes.

“That was all so cool! Lemony can you teach-”

“Absolutely not!” he replied.

“What?! Why not?!” Sunny protested. “I’ve sword fought before!”

“I completely forgot about the Orwell thing!” Lola exclaimed excitedly. “Sunny’s got a body count!”

“Lola!” Lemony reprimanded.

“Sorry,” Lola said, bowing her head in shame.

Lemony held his hand up, commanding control of the room.

“In spite of Sunny’s previous experience-” he gave Lola a direct look “-which, may I remind you was the result of a grown woman choosing to take a sword to an infant’s face-” Lola cringed inward as he continued. “There are several factors at play as to why I will not be teaching Sunny to swordfight anytime soon.”

“And why is that?” Sunny pouted, her arms crossed.

“I have two very good reasons, young lady,” he replied calmly. “The obvious one is that you are physically too small to hold a sword safely. So, perhaps ask in a few years. The second is that I know if your parents were here, they’d have my head if I even humored the idea.” He paused for a moment. “Your mother more so than your father, but my point stands.”

“Bertrand was the wildcard of the two?” Lola asked.

“I’m fully convinced that’s where Sunny gets her own brand of chaos from,” Lemony confirmed.

Violet and Klaus nodded in full agreement of the notion.

Lola gave Sunny a shrug.

“Sorry, Sunshine. He’s been dealing with me for a few years. He’s gotten really good at dealing with wildcards.”

“Ha!” Lemony scoffed. He shifted the swords he was holding to free one of his hands. He began to count on his fingers. “Firstly, you know my sister. Which, to be honest with you, brings me a bit of concern about B.B. with both genetics and her current influences being you and Sunny. Secondly, I grew up with Betrand and his propensity for jokes and pranks. Thirdly, Beatrice was only less wild than Bertrand due to being slightly older.”

He held up the fourth finger.

“And you and I both know who this is,” he told her. “I was dealing with wildcards before you were born. I assume the only one more in practice was Jacques. And let’s not even list the so-called ‘wildcards’ that came later as I’d run out of fingers.”

He brushed past Lola and began his way up the stairs.

“Now, I’m returning these to the chest in my room you undoubtedly broke into and changing the lock.”

“Good luck with that,” Lola said, singsong. “You know I’ll just pick it again.”

Lemony once again rolled his eyes, choosing not to directly engage.

Lola paused a moment.

“Hey, Baudelaire Family Historian, if Bertrand is where Sunny gets her nature, where did the teeth come from?” she called out to him.

He stopped halfway up the stairs to address her.

“That, my dear menace, is still a mystery to me as well.”

The children watched him ascend the stairs until he left their line of sight.

Violet turned to Lola.

“So, about your lockpick…”

Lola chuckled.

“Oh, darling, there’s no need for a lockpick if you just know how to pick locks,” she said with a wink.

“Should we be concerned?” Klaus asked with a nervous chuckle.

“No worries, babe!” she told him.

She passed him on the way to the kitchen and reached up to grab a wine glass from the cabinet.

“Lola?” Klaus asked.

“Calm down, I’m filling it with juice,” she told him as she did just so. “I just like being fancy.”

She brought the glass to her lips as took a sip with a satisfied sigh.

“By the way, I never steal anything I don’t intend to give back, so don’t be alarmed if your clothes go missing.”

“Lola!” the Baudelaires shouted.

“Well, that wasn’t directed at Sunny, obviously,” she said. “Her stuff wouldn’t fit!”

She held her hands in the shape of a heart and gave them a winning smile.