Duncan Quagmire and Violet Baudelaire: A Reunion

Chapter 19 - Duncan Quagmire

The first thing Duncan saw when he and Isadora stepped through the automatic doors were the Baudelaire's. There stood Sunny, her curious face tilting to the side, holding onto Klaus's leg. Klaus, who had a look of bewilderment on his face, eyes twinkling through his glasses and finally Violet. Violet. She stood next to a woman that Duncan was familiar with, Ginevra Walters.
Violet just stood still. At first Duncan throught that she looked a bit different, but he realised it was probably her straight hair tied up high. Duncan focused on her eyes, large and brown, uplifted. He then looked at her expression, she was smiling.
Duncan suddenly felt arms envelop him, Klaus's, and Duncan hugged back. He saw over Klaus's shoulder, Violet and Isadora hugging. Isadora went over to lift Sunny in the air. Klaus let go of Duncan and went off to hug Isadora who just put Sunny down.
Violet looked over at Duncan and smiled widely. They came closer until there was no space between them and Duncan felt Violet's arm embrace him. There was no where else Duncan ever wished he would be.
"Hey." Violet breathed. She was still looking at Duncan and he had no other choice but to look back at her, which he wanted to do.
"Hey." Duncan replied softly. He took a quick glance at the other two who were in an animated conversation. He felt soft hands around his leg and looked down to see Sunny. "Hey you." Duncan smiled and bent down to pick her up. Sunny giggled.
"What's happened when you guys left with Hector?" Duncan heard Klaus ask to Isadora. He turned to look at Klaus. "We stayed with him for a couple of months and we were going to land but then we met Farley and..."
"What, Jemma Farley?" Violet interjected. Duncan nodded before Isadora continued.
"She's a pirate and she said she would bring us to you so we joined her and her crew on their ship. We were there for a day and a half I think, then we found out that she was actually called Laurel Montgomery and was working for Olaf."
"Did you just say Laurel Montgomery?" Ginevra Walters questioned.
"Yeah why?" Isadora asked.
"She used to be a member of the V.F.D. until she killed one of our own members, Kylian Ross." Ginevra responded. "He was one of my good friends, a good person and she killed him."
The four furrowed their eyebrows. "What about you guys?" Duncan broke the silence.
"Well, we met our new guardians, the Hadley's. Mrs. Hadley was nice but the children not so much. They would just ignore us and give us dirty looks." Violet replied.
"To make matters worse, Count Olaf and Esmé were there..." Klaus added in before being interrupted by Isadora.
"Wait what?!"
"Yeah. Olaf got there a day earlier and charmed Mrs. Hadley and so by the time we got there, they were dating."
"Then what was Esmé doing?"
"She said that she was Olaf's secretary so she was there too. We snuck into his office at night and retrieved this booklet and this letter." Violet took out a small booklet and a crumpled letter from a bag and handed it to Ginevra. She took it and flipped through the booklet.
"Oh yes, I remember we made this months ago for the V.F.D. members who lost their way and couldn't find other members." Ginevra opened up the letter and read it surprisingly quickly. "This is new. I'll send it to the team to see what they could do with this. I wonder who this was meant to be for and what the "G" meant after Olaf's name."
Ginevra turned to put the booklet and letter into the inside pocket of her coat, but it flew out of her hand by the instant jolt of the ship. Violet lost her footing and was about to fall back before Duncan catched her and put her steady again.
"Thanks." Violet said quietly. She got back up and faced Ginevra. "What's happening?" Violet continued to hold onto Duncan's wrist and just the feel of her soft hands sent electric shocks up to his brain.
Ginevra remained in her stance. "Finn? Can you tell me what's going on?" She called out to a man hurrying past her.
"Oh! Something seemed to hit the ship. We are trying to figure it out right now." Duncan's blood ran cold and he froze. Attacked? This must only mean...
"Jemma's ship!" Isadora gasped and rushed towards a large window on an entire side of the ship. And sure enough a ship that seemed to be floating in invisible water were coming directly at them. Duncan acknowledged the beautiful City skyline from this high but his concentration was on the ship that was targeting them. If Duncan could squint his eyes properly, he could see three figures standing at the front of the deck. Count Olaf, Esmé and Jemma Farley.
"We have to get away from them!" Violet's anxious voice rang in Duncan's head.
"Where's the steering wheel?" Duncan asked.

After living in a ship for months, Duncan got a knack for steering the ship sometimes and so he already had experience. Once Ginevra brought the five into the steering room, Duncan got in front of the wheel, Klaus next to him.
"I've read a lot of books about aviation transportation and how to steer them." Klaus said expertly. Isadora and Violet were standing before the large window with Sunny also leaning against it. They were all leaning against it, trying to look for the other ship.
Duncan took hold of the steering wheel and it felt like a wave of energy went down his spine. His fingers curled over the wheel. He was in full control of the ship.
"Okay now, we have to lose these people, so hold onto something cause this is gonna get pretty fast," Duncan said aloud. He pushed more power into the wheel and suddenly they were off. The ship felt like it was going double the speed. Duncan made a sharp swerve that nearly made Isadora topple over. The ship was headed towards the City skyscrapers.
"Watch out!" Violet called out, she was holding onto Sunny who squealed, "Faster!" A tall, glass, skyscraper was only a few tens of meters away, before Duncan made a swift turn past it. Now they were in a maze of buildings. He could feel Jemma's ship catching up to the V.F.D.'s so he put more power into the ship, making it go faster. Another two buildings came into close contact before Duncan quickly evaded it, his blood exhilarating.
"Another building incoming!" Klaus shouted over the noise of the engine. Duncan, instead of flying the ship around the skyscraper, flew the ship vertically upwards and over.
"Duncan! They are catching up!" Violet belted. Looking through the window again. She stood up and grabbed hold of the steering wheel. Duncan caught hold of the nearest piece of furniture, a table attached to the ship and held onto it whilst Violet took control of the ship. She pushed the steering wheel forward and suddenly the ship was going about two times faster than it already was.
"Whoaa!" Duncan yelled. Violet was concentrating on steering the ship and Duncan had a chance to look around. Most of the people in the ship were in the room, all holding onto something. Duncan focused through the window. He saw the enemy's ship that was closing in on this ship, despite the speed at which Violet was steering. They were going into the City again, having to go past all of the buildings in double speed.
"Violet, watch out!" Duncan yelled at a building that was looking forwards. Violet effortlessly veered past the first building and did a loop past the second building.
"We're losing them!" Klaus said, pointing the ship that was getting further and further away.
"I think they are running out of engine fuel or something." Isadora watched the ship slowing down. "Slow down, Violet." Violet slowed the ship down until it was at a normal pace like before and everybody regained balance. Then everybody watched from the window, all of the crew and Jemma, Esmé and Olaf having to jump off the ship in parachutes to the ground.
"They're done! We've gotten away!" Violet exclaimed. Everybody in the room cheered before the person steering before got back to his post and the ship was moving again. Everyone was patting Violet on the back and congratulating Duncan. The members all went back to their usual job until it was just Duncan and Violet alone.
"So..." Duncan started unsure what to say.
"So..." Violet copied. "Do you want to have a look at the living room? You did get to have a proper look through the window. The skyline is pretty amazing."
"Yeah." And so, the Baudelaire and the Quagmire walked into the empty living room, chatting about their adventures so far.
"And so, we nearly died on the Mortmain Mountains but we somehow lived. Pretty amazing actually, the chances." Violet was saying. The sky was shades of pink, purple and blue, all integrated. Wisps of clouds floated around in the sunset. "I really missed you." Violet whispered, whilst looking at the sunset. She turned her attention to Duncan.
He looked back into the eyes he always dreamed about. "I missed you too." Duncan felt her leaning in, and so he tilted forwards. They were only a meter apart. Centimeters. Millimeters. Until their lips touched. The same electric shock he felt before was back again, circulating his whole body. He closed his eyes.
This. This was what he waited for. Wait... not this. She. She was what he waited for.