Number Eight // Five Hargreeves

VIII

Tessa's POV

Five was right.  I defineitly shouldn't have done that.  Between healing Diego, the jumps, and the guys shooting at us, I feel like I could sleep for a year and a half.  You know what I need?  Coffee.  I need coffee.

I found myself in Elliot's kitchen, rumaging through every drawer and cabniet in search of any form of caffiene.  All I found was tuna fish in a can, and crackers.  

"Third cabinet on the bottom to the left." I hear a voice ring out.  

Not even turning around to check, I rush to the cabniet and pull out a bag of fresh columbian coffee beans.  Internally grateful, I put the coffee pot on the stove and start grinding the beans up.  I turn around and find myself facing Ben.

"Hey, how are you here?  I thought you were like... I don't know, connceted to Klaus?"  I curiously ask the leather wearing ghost in front of me.

"I thought so too.  But ever since you came along, I can finally have someone else to talk to,"  He says with a small smile, sorrow lacing his words.  This makes my heart quiver a bit.  He has had only one person to talk to for 17 years, and as much as I love Klaus, he can be a little...much.  

"Has it been hard?  I mean- watching Klaus and the rest of your siblings make difficult decisions with no way to stop them?"  I ask, sitting down next to him on the edge of the kitchen table.  His features drop just slightly as he lets out a long sigh.

"Sometimes I just feel powerless ya know?"  He meets my eyes.  I see the longing desire to be heard, to break the silence, within them.  I grab his hand, suprised at how cold it is.  

"You know you're always welcome to hang around with me.  I'd be more than happy to be your voice,"  I say, meaning every single word.  He gives me a small smile, making me feel as though I was not previously a stranger only days ago, but as if he had known me for as long as the others.  As if I were part of this family.  The thought of it just makes my heart swell.

"Can I ask you a weird favor?"  He asks while standing up.

"Of course."

"Can I hug you?  I just haven't hugged anyone in such a long time and it's okay if you don't want to I totally understand-"  I interrupt him by wrapping my arms around his neck, taking him by suprise at first, but then feeling his welcoming arms wrap around my waist and his head buried in my shoulder.

"You might not have had a family growing up, but you sure as hell do now,"  I hear him whisper in my ear.  This statement causes my eyes to start watering.  Holy shit.  I have a brother.  I hug him even tighter, feeling more at home than I ever did at the academy.

The sound of the coffee pot whistling causes me to pull apart.  I pour myself a cup, not even bothering with cream or sugar.  Just strong, caffiene filled goodness.

"Oh my god you're just like Five.  You're insane,"  Ben says with a light chuckle as he takes a look at my coffee.  Our bonding moment is quickly interrupted by an angry knife throwing idiot.

"Everybody in the car now, we gotta go,"  Diego says marching through the kitchen followed by Luther and Five who are protesting his decisions.

"Go?  Go where?"  I ask, still sipping on my coffee.

"We're not going anywhere, Diego's insane,"  Five says while pouring himself a coffee.  No cream no sugar just like Ben said.  Interesting.

"The hell we aren't.  Dad wants to see us.  He invited all of us to a dinner.  We're going,"  Diego pushes in a stern tone.  

All of us?  Including me?  I don't even know what I'd say to him.  Well I don't think I would necessarily say anything.  I think I'd throw something instead.  Like a fork.  Or a chair.  Maybe a brick depending on how the night goes.

"Diego, he doesn't even know who we are!  Think about it!  He doesn't adopt us for another seventeen years!"  Luther says, trying to knock some sense into him.

"It doesn't matter!  He needs to do some explaining!"  Diego yells back.

"For things that haven't even happened yet!  Diego are you out of your mind?  What, do you just want to waltz up and talk about how he treated us as children?  Or better yet, why he was there for the Kennedy assassination?  May I remind you again, BOTH HAVEN'T HAPPENED YET!"  Luther yells back.  I wonder if this is always how discussions go down in this family.  I mean, for the past three times, there's always been some kind of yelling or insulting, and as entertaining as I may find it, we still have an apocalypse to stop.

"Tessa, back me up here,"  Diego's voice brings me back to reality, all of their attention facing me.

Do I even have the mental strength to be in the same room as that man?  The worst part is, the experiements haven't happened yet, so he won't have any explanation or feelings about any of it.  He won't remember the terrible things he put me through.  The hundreds of times he almost killed me.  I contemplate my answer before turning back to them.

"I'll go with you,"  I say confidently, causing Five to choke on his coffee.  Clearly this isn't the option he thought I'd choose.

"Yes! Alright, who's next?"  Diego says.

"Tessa, do you really think this is the best idea?"  Five asks me concerningly.  As much as I love that he cares, I know I have to do this.  Plus I bet we can find out more about the apocalypse from him.

"Yeah, I mean, he's got to know something about the apocalypse.  And right now, this is our only lead.  So unless you guys can think of something else that might help, I'm with Diego on this one,"  I say, Diego shooting me a wink.  

"Ben, what do you think?"  I ask.  He looks up in surprise, not expecting to be included in this conversation, per usual.  

"Uhhh, well, I think all of you should go.  You need answers.  Right now this is your best bet,"  He says to me as I relay the message back to the rest of them.  Luther and Five look at each other defeated.

"Fine, but if something goes wrong, we are out of there instantly got it?"  Five says.  We all nod and start making our way down to the car.  I go to follow Luther and Diego but Five pulls me back.

"Are you sure you're up for this?  You've been using a lot of energy lately and we all know what that son of a bitch put you through-"

"Five, I'm okay.  Really.  I need to do this and finally face him,"  I interupt him, not quite believing my own words.  I grab his hand, squeezing it for reassurance, and walk down to the car, not letting his hand go.  We jump in the back seat with Ben as Diego starts the car to go pick up Klaus and Allison and catch them up to speed.  Since we have a little bit of a drive, I rest my head on Five's shoulder and let myself have a few moments of rest.

The last thing I feel before drifting off to sleep is a small squeeze coming Five's hand, which is still intertwined with mine, reminding me that even though the world may end in a few days, this is the safest I've ever felt.