Kladora - It Was Different

Chapter 3 - Late Night Hand Holding

The next few hours passed quickly, the light coming through small gaps in the ceiling fading to a dim blackness. Klaus and I helped Sunny through another small book, Klaus looking overjoyed she was enjoying reading as much as he and Violet did. Violet kept giving me winks whenever Klaus said something that made me laugh, or vice versa, but she couldn't really talk as she and Duncan kept laughing flirtatiously at each other and at one point I saw them link pinkies. None of us realized what time it was until Sunny yawned and fell back into Klaus' lap, fast asleep. Klaus picked her up and put her on the little hay bale in the corner. We were all in a horrible situation, we were orphans with nobody to help us and no answers to our many questions. Olivia still hadn't found "The Incomplete History Of Secret Organisations", Coach Genghis had the Baudelaires running laps every night and now they were 2 weeks into S.O.R.E they were completely exhausted, but Sunny was only one. She had hardly learned to walk and yet she was running laps every night, it broke my heart. I took of my blazer and wrapped it over her like a blanket. Klaus smiled warmly at me, making my stomach do a flip.

"Thanks Izzie. I really appreciate it." Klaus said, embracing me warmly. My heart was banging against my ribs, fighting to get out. I blushed profusely and smiled to myself, clinging to Klaus tighter.

"What for? And since when do you call me Izzie?" I asked, pulling away from him reluctantly. I immediately missed his warm arms around me.

"Oh, I-I just thought I could call you that, since we're best friends you know? If you don't like it I won't call you-" he stuttered, making me laugh lightly, despite the intense amount of nerves I was battling.

"No, I like it!" I said, smiling at him as best I could, but I was struggling to hide how cute I thought he was when he was flustered.

"Y-you do? And, thanks for being so good to Sunny. You're like a sister to her now." Klaus said, making me look at my toes and murmur "You're welcome Klaus.", although the thought in my head was, I wish I was a sister in law to her...

Duncan and Violet were going to sleep now, but surprisingly enough I was more tired than Klaus was. We both looked over at Violet and Duncan, to see they were both already asleep, Violet's head on Duncan's shoulder and his right ankle intertwined with her left. Klaus and I looked at each other and blushed awkwardly.

"Do we...uh...do we have to sleep like that?" he said anxiously.

"N-not if you don't want to. It is kinda cold in here though..." I replied, lying down on one side of the hay bale. Klaus lay on the other side, our shoulders pressed together as he took his glasses off and put them on the floor gently. I couldn't stay awake much longer, my eyes were closing and I couldn't stop them. I heard Klaus whisper something I must have misheard.

"I want to sleep like that though...". I must have misheard that. There is no way on Earth he would say something like that! My eyes shut completely, as a warm feeling enveloped me. I tried my best to fight sleep, but it was no use. The very last thing I felt was Klaus' hand grip mine gently, his thumb rubbing my knuckles as sleep took hold of me.