Family Comes First- ASOUE

Chapter 20: Dinner and a Movie

*Klaus' POV*

Once all of the groceries Uncle Monty had bought were put away in their respective places, we set the table for dinner and passed around the boxes of Chinese takeout. My sisters and I sat on one side of the table, with Violet in between me and Sunny, Monty was at the head of the table at the next seat over from Sunny, and I sat next to Duncan who was at the other head of the table. Isadora sat across from me, and with two spots left in between Monty and Izzie, Stephano sat next to her.

"Now let's eat quickly, everyone," Monty said, slurping up a spoonful of soup. "We don't want to be late for the movies."

"I don't think I'll be joining tonight," Stephano said with fake sadness. "I thought I'd stay in and read up on venom."

"Heit auyo..." Sunny mumbled, and stuck the last bits of her spring roll into her mouth. Violet, the Quagmires, and I shared concerned looks.

"Oh but, Stephano, you must join us! We have to celebrate your arrival! Right, bambini?"

"Umm... Sure, yeah..." Isadora said in a shaky voice.

"See? We insist you come with."

"I insist upon staying here."

"I insisted first."

"Well, I insisted louder-!"

Violet interrupted the bickering, thank goodness. "Could you please pass the potstickers?" She asked.

"Of course, Violet," Uncle Monty replied, reaching for the bowl, but Stephano snatched it out of his reach, placing it down directly in front of himself and stuffed each and every one into his mouth one-handedly. Uncle Monty groaned in frustration. "It appears they're all gone." He said in an annoyed tone.

I noticed Izzie was trying desperately to shield a scared look on her face and I gave her a concerned look. She glanced downwards with her wide eyes, then casually took a bite of food. I did the same, but 'accidentally' dropped my fork after I put my food into my mouth. I got out of my seat to pick it up off the floor and I saw that Stephano was rubbing his knife slowly against her knee and I quickly stood back up. That was all I needed to see to know Isadora needed to get the fuck out of that seat. "Oops, dropped my fork!" I chuckled nervously. "Izzie, come with me to get a new one."

She swiftly pushed her chair backwards and jumped out of it like it was suddenly on fire. We walked to the kitchen in silence, but once I had thrown my fork into the sink she hugged me tightly. I hugged her back and I heard her softly sobbing into me. Once she had calmed down a little I asked her if she was okay, talking slowly to keep her calm.

"He scratched me a little when Uncle Monty got frustrated with him. Not enough to draw blood though, but I'm so scared... Thank you."

"You do realize I'm not letting you sit next to him again, right?"

"B-but then he'll probably do the same to you and-"

"But you'll be out of his reach. I'm not taking no for an answer in this situation, Isadora. You're moving seats because the sun was in your eyes, get it?"

"But, Klaus-"

"You're switching seats," I insisted, taking a paper towel off the roll and handing it to her. "Here, everyone else will throw a shit-fit if they learn about this, so you should dry your eyes so they don't know you were crying."

She accepted the paper towel and dabbed at her eyes. "Bless you, Klaus..." She said quietly.

"Don't mention it." I said, grabbing a new fork from the drawer. I gave her a one-armed hug before we went back into the reptile room where everyone else was eating. "Izzie was telling me about the last few bits of sunlight hitting her eyes so we're switching seats," I said, picking up my plate and cup. Izzie and I smiled sadly at eachother from across the table and I jumped slightly, feeling the knife now against my knee. I had to agree this is pretty terrifying. We all finished up our meals and put the dishes in the dishwasher, then Monty sent us up to fetch our coats. We had gotten them before Stephano was finished with his call.