8 ○ Umbrella Academy

Babysitting

I set a plate of waffles before Klaus with a small smile. He'd been talking to Ben but I was too lost in my own thoughts as I cooked for him. Well, not so much 'my own' per se. Diego had an interesting mind, having a constant feed of it wasn't something I always appreciated, but today it was nice. I tore off a piece of the top waffle and stuck it in my mouth, grinning at the impatient look that came over Klaus. I can feel you poking around my head, Diego grumbled.

I instantly retreated, shoving the waffle into my mouth with a soft, Sorry. We'd established an unspoken privacy, enforced from when we were sixteen and I moved out; my traverse there was subliminal, like reaching for a security blanket. Even overlooking the unclear boundaries between Diego and I, the last time I went poking around someone's head uninvited, it ended explosively. I wasn't out to disintegrate one of my crumbling bridges.

Don't be, Diego sighed, a sense of nostalgia about him. I didn't think I'd actually miss that feeling. I couldn't help but smile around my waffle, looking up as Allison came into the kitchen, Luther's stomps not far behind the clicks of her heels.

"You guys need to see this," she sighed as Luther appeared behind her, just as confused as Klaus and I. Allison's thoughts were too scattered about her priorities to tell just what had set her off, so I opted for following behind her, Klaus on my heels with his plate of waffles in hand. I just couldn't help but wonder why I'd seen Diego with Dad's monocle.

○

I leaned back in my chair, the clip playing over for another uncountable round, my head falling to rest against Klaus' stomach. Watching Dad die, watching Mom do nothing about it but take the monocle - the mass confusion between us hurt more than watching the video. "Play it again," Luther demanded after watching our father seize for the umpteenth time.

"We've watched it over and over, Luther," Allison sighed, "it's the same every time." But he just leaned against the desk and rewound the tape again.

He stumbled over himself a second before asking "W-what is she doing?"

"Maybe Mom accidentally OD'd him on the Viagra," Klaus supplied, snickering when I reached up and hit him in the chest.

"Where did you find this?" Luther asked as he turned to Allison, opting to ignore Klaus' comment.

"I was looking at old footage of us as kids and I saw the tape just sitting there," she shrugged, coming to stand between Luther and I's chairs.

"Yeah, Dad must've started using the security system again," Luther nodded as he rewatched the tape. "He was getting more and more paranoid. He thought people were out to get him."

"Well, he might've been right," I sighed. I couldn't read from corpses, or Dad's pile of ash, for the sake of brain activity. I couldn't read off of videos, either, so my brain just wrapped itself up in the mystery.

"But Mom?" Klaus protested. "She isn't capable of..." He trailed off but the thought kept going in my head. What if she was?

"Is she...?" Allison asked.

○

Klaus insisted we left Mom's interrogation to Allison and Luther, despite the fact that I would've been the perfect person to be there, before dragging me to the alley behind the house. With a soft sigh, I pulled my hood up and adjusted my long hair around it before leaning against the wall, full audience as Klaus sifted through the dumpster. "Damnit, where's Dad's stuff?" he groaned loudly, a joint hanging from his mouth.