Chapter 15: After The End

Chapter 2: Settling In

Begin!

~Normal POV

Almost immediately upon entering the building, the children were greeted by Jacqueline rushing out to meet them. She didn't look much different from the past year, aside from a few signs of overworking from her new position. She started their conversation by telling them that she would set them up to go live at the improved Prufrock to help ease them back into normal society and anything they needed during their stay would be taken care of with her resources; something that they were quite thankful to hear. She also had someone with her, a man that the Baudelaires recognized. They had met him at Hotel Denouement last year, but the only difference in his appearance was a wedding ring on his left hand.

"Children, this is Lemony Snicket, he's Kit's brother, he's happy to be your semi-official guardian until you come of age. And while you're living at Prufrock, Sunny and little Bea will stay with him since they're so young."

"We've met before," Violet said shaking Lemony's hand.

Lemony's gaze softened at her and he smiled, "That we have. I wish you could have taken my offer the last time we met, but that's not how the story goes. If you don't mind, may I?" He gestured to his niece, and Violet picked Bea up and handed her over to him.

"She looks so much like Kit, but she has Dewey's eyes," Lemony said fondly, before turning his attention back to them, "While Jacqueline gets you set up with a few phone calls to Prufrock's new principal, you'll stay with me tonight and everything should be ready for you tomorrow. Besides, you'll want to drop the young ones off before you go since it might be improved but it is still a boarding school and it's simply too far for you to take a ride there every day, staying in a dorm will be an unfortunate requirement."

"That's fine; as long as it's a place to stay," Isadora replied.

"Well, it might be a better school but you can't expect the students to be improved," Jacqueline commented.

"At least we don't have to deal with Carmelita anymore," Klaus said.

Duncan and Isadora were confused by this statement, but Klaus said they would explain later. Jacqueline then went into the other room to start her task. Lemony set his niece down in her basket, said they could head out to his home now, and led them out of the office building.

~...

One car ride later they found themselves at Lemony's rather large house. Once inside they were greeted by another new face. A pretty woman with blonde hair, and grey eyes that looked like they might have been black at one point; she had a nice smile and a wedding ring on her left hand.

"Moxie Mallahan, I'm Lemony's wife. It's good to finally meet you all," She said, "And yes I know who you are. My husband is the one who begged me to help clear your names Baudelaires. He found the evidence; all I needed to do was take over the Daily Punctilio."

"You cleared our names?" Violet asked giving Lemony a quizzical look.

"Beatrice wouldn't have forgiven me if I didn't, and I wouldn't have forgiven myself either," He replied quietly.

The Baudelaires were still unaware of the exact history of Lemony and their late mother, but they could tell she had been someone important to him. Perhaps that was why he was so happy to have a niece named after her. Moxie gave her husband a kiss before heading out for her work day. Lemony then gave them a quick tour of his home and told them he would take good care of Sunny and Beatrice for them while they were away.

For the rest of the evening, the children settled into their temporary home. Lemony was in his office most of the day, to leave them to catch up and have some down time together. He mentioned that any clothes or other things they needed would be at the school when they arrived. With Judy in charge, V.F.D. had a permanent involvement at Prufrock now; she retired from being a justice but not from being a volunteer.