*Isadora's POV*
Sir had brought us to his office to have a 'little chat'. Violet and I sat in the two chairs, with Sunny in her lap, and Duncan and Klaus stood behind their respective sisters.
"I'm not an idiot," Sir said, and I exchanged a quick glance with Violet as we tried not to laugh. Sir cleared his throat to get our attention again. "I've been trying to figure out what to do with you since you caused that accident that crushed a man's debarker dispenser."
"Philly?" Sunny muttered.
"That careless attitude will get you nowhere in this society, orphans. Now, I have good and bad news."
"What's the bad news...?"
"There's a local receptionist that wants children of her own. You make one more mistake and I'm gonna be forced to sack you and send you to live with her."
"You can't send us to live with Shirley!!!" I exclaimed.
"And Klaus wasn't responsible for that accident!" Violet added. "He was hypno-"
Violet was interrupted with Sir's rough coughing from all those nasty cigars. "He was hyp-" She said again, only to be interrupted again. "He was hypnotized!!!" She shouted. "Just like the rest of the workers here."
"What my employees do for fun is not my business." He said simply.
"Do you have any clue what happens in this factory," Duncan asked, "or is there smoke where your brain should be?"
"'Don't ask, don't tell!' That's my motto." Sir said. "Now, do you have any questions?"
"What's the good news?"
Sir stretched in his chair. "It'll build character." He answered, and he saw all of our faces fall. "I was willing to forgive the accident. You five are an economic bonanza, and deep down, I'm a softie, but my partner convinced me that I need to be a little more inflexible. You know it's a sign you're doing good when it's the first thing you've agreed upon in a week. Isn't that right, Charles?"
Charles stepped in from the other room, standing stiffly and staring off blankly at the wall behind us. "We'll finally be happy without those orphans around..." He recited.
"Exactly, so shape up unless you want to be sent to live with Miss St. Ives. Good day."
"But, Sir-"
"I said good day." Sir said and held his hand out in the direction of the door. Violet and I reluctantly stood up, and the five of us left the office.
"'It'll build character.'" Klaus repeated outside.
"That's just something people say to make others accept a miserable situation." Duncan sighed.
"It is miserable..." Violet yawned.
"And we already have enough character built."
"If we can't find the word to break my hypnosis, I could cause another accident and we'd be in the hands of Count Olaf..."
"You mean Shirley." I snickered, and we all burst into a fit of giggles.
"Oh my days..." I said. "I don't know what's worse, the voice or the outfits!"
"The voice for sure! It made my head hurt!" Klaus answered, laughing despite that.
"No! It's the outfits, definitely!" Violet replied. "He's walking around wearing his ex's clothes!"
"Probably not the first time, knowing him and his outrageous disguises!" Duncan snickered.
"Nokeup!" Sunny added, giggling.
We calmed down from our laugh attack and I was happy that despite all the terrible things that we'd been through, we still could find reason to laugh. I realized if we couldn't find Klaus' 'secret words' to break his hypnosis whenever it happened to trigger, we'd lose part of our family forever.
"We don't want you to go away again, Klaus..." I said, staring down at the ground. Klaus immediately wrapped me in a hug.
"I won't. Not if I can help it. We can stay up all night if it means we fix this."
YOU ARE READING
Family Comes First- ASOUE
Fanfiction"Family isn't always blood. It's the people in your life who want you in theirs; the ones who accept you for who you are. The ones who would do anything to see you smile and who love you no matter what." Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire were intel...
