Family Comes First- ASOUE

Chapter 17: A Necessary Thank-You

*Violet's POV*

Monty led us back into the foyer. "Now, let's discuss living arrangements!" He said cheerily, "I unfortunately only have four free bedrooms, so two of you will have to share a room."

"Dibs!" Sunny said, and I explained that she 'called dibs' on not having to share a room.

"So most of us really get our own rooms?" Isadora asked excitedly.
"Of course! What, you think I'd coop you all up in one room? What kind of person would do that?"

Klaus frowned. "Count Olaf did that."

Uncle Monty made a bit of a 'Hmph' noise. "Yes, I do recall Mr. Poe told me so. Count Olaf sounds like an awful person. I hope he is torn apart by wild animals someday. Wouldn't that be satisfying?"

"If it's okay with Klaus," Duncan said, "I could share a room with him so each of the girls have their own rooms."

"That works for me," Klaus smiled.

I looked at the two of them with uncertainty. "Are you sure, guys? I'd feel like that's unfair making just you two bunk together."

"Violet and I can share a room too," Isadora suggested. "Then there'd also be an extra room!"

We decided that'd be the best option that'd work for all of us, so Uncle Monty took us upstairs to show us the rooms, explaining that we could move around furniture as we pleased.

"Now I wasn't sure what the exact living arrangements would be, but I purchased a crib and an extra bed so we can put them together as a family. Does that sound fun?" I definitely thought it sounded fun and I was glad that everyone else agreed. The first bedroom had a nice big window that faced the snake-shaped hedges out front. At first I thought they seemed somewhat eerie, but imagining Uncle Monty happily tending to them and keeping them neat made them feel much more peaceful.

"What a lovely view!!" Izzie said, "Violet, what do you think?"

"I think it could inspire a lot of inventions."

"And a lot of poetry!"

Duncan, Klaus, and Sunny didn't fight us for the room, so we were happy to claim it as our own. I could even tack up some paper to draw ideas onto if Izzie and Monty allowed it! The next room over was fairly plain, but Sunny seemed to see the potential it had. "Bite!!!" She exclaimed, meaning she looked forward to filling it up with all sorts of biteable objects. I told Monty she likes the room and was hoping there were biteable things around to keep in there. "Inky!" She added. I also told him she'd want to keep some of the Incredibly Deadly Viper's toys in her room so she can play with him. Uncle Monty laughed and agreed. The next room was quite nice too. It had a good sized alcove with a brass reading lamp and a little table in it. Duncan and Klaus whispered to eachother a little, considering whether or not they wanted to share it.

"Uncle Monty?" Klaus asked. "We like this one, but could we maybe put a couple chairs into the alcove?"

"It looks like a really nice place to sit and read!" Duncan added.

"Of course, my boys! I already said all of you are allowed to move furniture around as you please!"

"And tack things up? ... If Izzie is fine with it."

Both of them said they'd be fine with me putting paper on the wall, which I was happy about. Monty let us get settled; use the restroom and move our luggage and such. I was lucky enough to catch Duncan using this time to bring a chair up to his room with little effort (he must've gotten very impatient from excitement) and I not so subtly admired how strong he is. It's really not fair how easily he's able to grab my attention...

Monty had given us a small tour through the rest of the house and we fixed the bed situation. I slept the most peacefully that I had in weeks. The next afternoon, I gathered up my siblings. "We haven't told the Quagmires how thankful we are for them yet." I informed them. "They could have had a safe life with Justice Strauss, but they followed us into the unknown."

"They're great people," Klaus agreed. "Did you wanna do something for them as a thank you?"

"Duh!! I saw some canned peaches in the cabinet and asked Uncle Monty if we could use them to make something to thank the Quagmires for coming with us. He said he had a cookbook with a peach cobbler recipe. Does that sound like something they'd like?"

"Setoh," Sunny said, meaning they do have a sweet tooth. I nodded. Izzie was currently playing with Demetrius, her gecko buddy, and Duncan was taking a nap, so we had some time to bake something probably.

It was so much more fun cooking for the Quagmires than it was for Olaf. We knew they'd enjoy the gesture at least even if we messed up horribly. We didn't, thank goodness, and the cobbler came out looking very very tasty.

"Diggy!" Sunny exclaimed happily.

"No digging into it right now," I giggled. "We gotta wait for the Quagmires!"

"I can go fetch them," Klaus offered, leaving the room. Sunny helped me lay out the plates and I dished out a good amount of the dessert onto each of them. Sunny suggested putting a scoop of ice cream on each one but we sadly didn't find any. I set them down at a few seats at the kitchen table with a fork at each, putting the rest of the cobbler into the microwave for safekeeping.

A few moments later, Klaus came back with the Quagmires. "Ooh something smells good!" Isadora noted, her eyes widening at the dessert on the table. "Ooooohhh," she said, quickly taking a seat.

"What's all this, Baudelaires?" Duncan asked, sitting next to her. My siblings and I sat down too.

"We're very grateful to have you two in our lives, you know that right?" I asked.

"You two could have ensured a safe life with Justice Strauss, but you stayed with us." Klaus added.

Duncan and Isadora smiled at us, then looked at eachother, then back at us. "Well, I'm sure you already know." Isadora said, picking up her fork and digging into her plate.

"Know what?" I said with a small confused smile.

"What friends are for." Duncan answered. My siblings and I couldn't help but smile at Duncan and Isadora. They must be angels or something... "We couldn't let you guys go through this alone after all we've been through together in such a short while." He added after trying a bite of the dessert we made.

"You're too sweet," I said.

"You know what else is sweet?" Isadora asked. "This cobbler. Quigley would have liked it..."

"Heh, yeah he would have. He used to love peaches..." Duncan agreed, laughing a little bit. "Thank you too, Baudelaires. You're good people."

"Promise us that we're all gonna be there for eachother forever?"

My siblings and I looked at eachother with bright smiles. "We promise."