Before The Beginning

Chapter 2: Changes in V.F.D.

Begin!

Note: Beatrice and Karen are the same age; 21.

~Beatrice's POV, V.F.D. headquarters

"You broke up?"

"Yeah... Believe me, I didn't enjoy hurting him, but it wasn't working out," I said glumly. I was sitting with my friend Karen Denouement in my office. She was always the first I told when something happened.

"Did he take it well," She asked.

"Oh yeah, he was understanding. I don't think we were ever really meant for each other, but he was still very sweet. And we're going to stay friends if we can. He said if I ever need anything he'll always be there for me. Kit said he took a siesta and went to some place called Stain'd By The Sea. I guess maybe he just wanted to be apart for a while to let it sink in."

Karen nodded, "That sounds reasonable. Hopefully he finds someone new; guy's as loyal as a dog he deserves a girl who makes him happy even if it's not you."

"I agree."

Karen got up to refill her drink. "You're not the only one with relationship troubles around here though."

I glanced up, "Oh?" Karen would have told me if she had a boyfriend or a new crush.

"Did you not hear about Kit?"

"What happened? I've only talked to her on the phone, she's been so busy with missions."

"She dumped Olaf."

My eyes widened but I actually wasn't that surprised. Kit had not been with Olaf for long but when they were together they seemed happy, I guess the "seemed" part finally caught up with them. Something about their relationship always looked unsettling to me, but I wasn't going to say this to Kit. I'm rather glad she's not with him anymore. They had an odd feeling to their relationship, as if there were constant warning signs that nothing good would come of it.

"Why?"

Karen shrugged and sat back down. "No idea, he hasn't been around at all either. I never really liked him... he always seemed strange. I've never met an actor who hates musical theatre before."

"That is strange. I remember my sister-in-law Josephine told me he used to burn ants with a magnifying glass as a child."

"Yeah that explains a lot," Karen replied.

We sipped our drinks quietly. I was surprised at how calm I felt about letting my boyfriend go. I figured it would be a lot harder than it was. But strangely fate seemed to think differently. Perhaps that was what made me not as emotional as others would be in my situation.

I then heard a knock on the door. Before either of us could get up to answer it was opened by our older friend Samantha. She was a tan skinned woman with shoulder length raven hair and light blue eyes covered by oddly shaped glasses. It wasn't that strange that we were friends despite our age gap, if only because we work together, not only was she older she also already had a son who had just turned 13. Given that Sammie had also recently had to serve her husband divorce papers, I opted to avoid telling her why I looked so down; it would probably put her in a bad mood.

"Hi Bea, hi Karrie," She said, "Bea do you still have that commonplace book I gave you the other day?"

I got up and searched the room for her requested item. After a minute, I found it. "Here you go, I thought you gave it to me because you didn't need it?"

Samantha smiled, "There's no point in keeping it a secret since you'll find out eventually. I just found out I'm over a month pregnant. I need this to do some work, and we're low on commonplace book supplies."

Karen nearly choked on her drink, "Really?! Sammie why didn't you say something?!"

"Cause I knew it would get that reaction out of you."

I smiled, at least Sammie had some good news to come out of her divorce. "How is Fernald taking the news?"

"Surprisingly well, and that makes me happy. He's taking my missions for me now which means I have plenty of extra down time. You know the rules. If you get pregnant, you can't go on jobs, it's too dangerous for your baby."

She was right, V.F.D. was trying to be strict of safety like that, not that there aren't people who still work even if they shouldn't. (Fernald being a rather good example of this as he was still in his apprenticeship and shouldn't be taking higher level work yet, obviously he didn't seem to mind.) I noticed Karen look at our friend with slight envy.

"Don't worry, Karrie. I'll let you babysit if I ever need you," Sammie said, answering the question she hadn't asked.

Karen loved children, but was unfortunately unable to have them herself. I saw my friend smile as Sammie said goodbye and went off to do her work.

"Karrie, you know you'll get one someday right?"

Karen sighed, "You don't know that..."

"But I do know that," I reassured her. "Speaking of which, we should get back to work before we get in trouble."

As if right on cue, Karen's comm device went off and she was called out of the headquarters for a fire out in the Hinterlands. I wished her luck as she rushed out and hoped that she would come back safely. What we do as volunteers isn't easy, and it's always dangerous, but it's worth it if there's one less fire in the world. As I went back doing some work I received another knock on my door this time from my associate Gustav Sebald; Gustav was in charge of our coded films department, he made movies to pass on secret messages to other volunteers; a strange delivery choice but usually effective.

"Good morning, Beatrice."

"Good morning, Gustav, how are you?"

"Fine," He replied, he handed me a letter, "This is a job for you. This message needs to get to its recipient tonight. Get yourself something nice to wear and head out to the city. There's a very In candlelit restaurant on Dark Avenue; you won't be able to miss it since it'll be the one that's the busiest at dinner. The violin player there is expecting this message. Larry says that someone else should be working their own case at the same time but it's not confirmed who yet."

I accepted my mission without question. It gave me something to look forward to for tonight. "Dark Avenue was always a strange place to me. Anything else?"

"Just some advice, Larry says that their chicken is awful, don't order it."

~End of Chapter!

Those of you who know your Snicket history can probably guess what happens next. See you in the next chapter!