It had been three days since the baby was born.

It had been two days since they had buried the dead bodies of Kit and Count Olaf.

It had been one day since Violet had broken down, unable to function as usual, alternating between long states of catatonia where she sat staring, focusing on nothing but what was inside her mind, and short periods of agitation, where she turned into a blubbering, sobbing mess that no amount of comfort or tenderness from Klaus could assuage. Klaus wasn't sure which he hated more, the crying or the emptiness?

At least when Violet was being still, he could attend to the baby's crying, because it seemed like the little newborn would never stop. Kit had left this child in a world wholly unfit to care for it. They hadn't even been able to call the baby by her name, yet. It would make it too real, Klaus thought. Too close to home.

Klaus knew the poor baby was hungry. He had tried and tried to feed her. Milk was not too hard to come by, as there were sheep aplenty on this island and they had managed to get some of their milk in small bowls they had found. Unfortunately, the siblings had searched, to no avail, every cabinet, every box, and every tent for a bottle or anything they could use to turn into a bottle. Klaus had tried using the fingers of gloves with a small hole poked through, which only made the baby cry harder. He had tried spoon feeding the baby milk, but it was too much and the baby choked. He had tried dipping his finger in the milk and letting the baby suck on it, but she wasn't getting enough and would become quickly frustrated.

So the baby cried. The sound of it grated at his ears, but more so at his heart, as he worried the baby wouldn't survive long. She was using so much energy crying and needed so much more food. He was at his wit's end. Between caring for the baby and worrying about Violet, he was exhausted. Sunny was a good helper, but she, at just four, was not much more than a baby herself. Klaus felt guilty for not being able to take better care of Sunny right now, but at this point, he just didn't have much left to give.

It was getting towards evening. Sunny slept already, although Klaus didn't know how she managed it with all of the noise. The baby had been crying for well over an hour. He did his best to finger feed and only managed to get her to drink maybe half an ounce before she fell asleep, exhausted. Klaus closed his tired eyes. Sleep would come fast, which was good, because the baby wouldn't sleep for long, but then, in the stillness, came the sound of Violet crying from the next room.

He carefully laid the baby down in the crook of the couch cushions and, wearily, stood up to check on his older sister. Klaus entered the small bedroom without knocking. Violet was curled up on the bed, body shaking from the sobs. "Violet?" Klaus tried to get her attention. She ignored him, which was unsurprising, as nothing had worked previously to get her attention, whether she was crying or still. He ran his hands over his face in frustration then readjusted his glasses. She looked frightful. Her hair was a tangled, oily mess. Her face was red and puffy, cheeks streaked with dirt and tears and snot that dripped out of her nose. She needed a bath.

Klaus left her in the darkened bedroom to warm up some water for her. There was a very small tub that Klaus and Sunny had found, but it still took several rounds of heating up pots of water to fill it. The tub was already partly full from Sunny's bath earlier, so he would just need to heat it up enough to make it comfortable for a quick bath for Violet. He was sure that this would help soothe her and bring her some normalcy.

It took close to half an hour to warm up the water enough, and when Klaus reentered the bedroom, Violet had gone quiet and staring again. Klaus approached the bed and bent over her, brushing back her stringy hair from her face. "Violet? Come on," he urged her, pulling at her upper arm. "Get up. It's time for a bath, okay?" It took several tries to get her on her feet, but when she was standing up, he led her easily by the hand to stand in front of the tub. She stared at the water vacantly.

"Get undressed and sit in the tub." Klaus felt weird reminding her how to bathe and it scared him a little that he felt he had to do it in the first place. Where was Violet's mind? What horrible memories or thoughts was she so absorbed in? "I'll find you some clean clothes. There are some in the closet." He turned to walk away, but stopped to reassure her. "I'll be right back, okay?"

Klaus rummaged through the clothes that had been abandoned in the closet and wondered if they had belonged to his parents? Of course they had. Who else had lived here? He wanted something comfortable for her, so wound up choosing a long button up shirt that probably belonged to his father and a pair of boxers that would do for pajamas.

When he returned, Violet still stood in front of the tub. He had half expected this, but couldn't hold back a long sigh. He put the clothes in a neat pile on the counter and stood in front of her. "It's time for a bath," he reminded her as he started to unbutton her dress. "Violet? Can you please tell me what you're thinking about? Maybe I can help? You know… I can't do this without you. I don't know how to take care of everybody. I need your help. I need you to come back to us." He talked gently to her as he pulled the dress up over her head. He dipped the hem of the grimy garment into the warm water and tried to wipe some of the dirt and snot off of Violet's face.

He had her attention now, or she was looking at him at least, so he continued to talk to her as he wiped her cheeks and her nose. "I miss you, Violet. Sunny is so worried about you. I know things seem pretty bleak, but we've always managed to survive. Together. Our parents left a lot of things here in this little house and I think we can find a way to be happy here, but only if you're here with us." He dipped the cloth in the water again and wiped at her mouth, her lips chapped with dehydration. Her body was skinny and her ribs showed through her skin. They had all gone without recently, but Violet more than any of them, it seemed. He promised himself to take better care of Violet.

"Klaus?" Violet whispered, her first word in over a day, but just then the baby began to cry and Klaus felt his usual bubble of anxiety at the sound. Violet clapped her hands to her ears and began to cry, too, folding in on herself. "I can't take it. That baby," she said, a mix between mournfulness and anger. "She's going to die, isn't she? I can't listen to her die. I can't watch anybody else die. I hate her."

"Don't say that," Klaus said sternly.

"I hate her," Violet repeated, louder, as if to drown out he baby's cries. "And I hate Kit…for dying and leaving her own baby all alone in this horrible world." She stepped toward Klaus. "I hate our parents. They died and left us all alone. We're all alone!" Like he needed to be reminded. Her voice was loud and breaking with sobs. "Even Count Olaf is dead. Everyone. Is. Dead!" Violet raised her fists and punctuated each ugly word with a hit to Klaus's chest. "What are we supposed to do now?" she cried pitifully.

"No." Klaus was taller than Violet and easily caught her fists and held them firmly. He hated her words, for they felt like the truth, even though he denied it. "That's not true. We'll be okay. We don't need any of them, Violet. We have each other." He said it harshly, trying to convince himself. As the baby's cries grew louder, and Violet stood, looking so small in front of him, naked except for her dirty undergarments, discouragement threatened to overwhelm him.

Violet wrested her arms from Klaus's grip. "Yes, Klaus. We have each other. Aren't you glad to have me? Don't you want me?" she asked bitterly, but she was really looking at him now, her gaze shifting between his eyes and his mouth. Then, almost a whisper, she said, "Because, I want you." She pulled herself up to him by his shoulders and pressed her lips roughly to his, lacing her fingers into his hair. He was shocked, could feel the threads of his sanity pulling loose. Releasing his mouth, but not his neck, she said, quietly now, "I just want something good." She was crying, tears leaking steadily from her eyes. "You are the only good left in this world. Is it too much to ask to just feel good for a little while?" her voice broke. "Please?"

Klaus stood for a long time looking at his sister, breathing hard, unsure what to do. The baby's cries grated on his nerves. He couldn't think straight. All there was, was uncertainty and pain. It killed him to see Violet like this. Was she asking too much from him? He would give her anything. She had taken care of them for so long. Didn't she need to loved and comforted, to be taken care of? He thought he had been doing that all along, but maybe Violet needed more from him. Didn't they both deserve some good, some pleasure to go with all the pain? But to what consequence? Did he even care at this point?

"Klaus?" Violet pleaded, rubbing her fingertips through the curling hairs at the nape of his neck. "Please… I just want to feel something good."

"To hell with it," Klaus said, and in a moment had her backed up against the thin wall, his body pressed flush to her torso. He slanted his mouth across hers and kissed her deeply, cradling her face in his hands. He felt a river of emotion, pouring out of him like a flood, the dam broken, and he did nothing to restrain himself. He felt sorrow and disappointment, love and lust. She worked quickly at the buttons of his shirt and ripped it down off his shoulders. He lowered his arms and let the shirt drop to the floor. Then she began unbuttoning his trousers and pulling down the zipper. She pushed her hand unceremoniously into the waistband of his boxers to wrap around his penis, pumping him several time into an erection. Klaus hissed in surprised pleasure, but Violet stopped as quickly as she had started to pull down her own panties.

Klaus sensed Violet's urgency and slid his hands around her waist and over her buttocks, letting his fingers get used to the feel of her skin. They slid down her thighs and back up to press into her vagina. She was pretty dry, which said a lot for her state of mind. He pulled out his fingers to rub what little juices he could along her slit, all the while kissing her.

He grunted when she pulled his hips flush with hers, pushing at his pants and underwear until they stuck above his thighs, exposing him. "Do it," she urged. "Quickly." He was unsure exactly what she wanted from him. He was not about to fuck his broken sister in this tiny bathroom, against this flimsy wall, as some sort of revenge she might have against all of their dead guardians. His morals were pretty depleted right now, but that would be too wrong.

He ignored her demand and ignored the baby's cries, which continued louder than ever, took his hand away from between her legs, to instead concentrate on unhooking her bra. When at last he figured it out, he pulled it from her shoulders, followed the garment down with his lips, starting at her neck and across her collarbone, then placed open mouthed kisses down her chest to latch onto one nipple while his hand played with the other. Her breasts were soft and small and so sweet. Violet actually sighed in pleasure, encouraging him that he had done something right. He soon let that one pop out of his mouth to move to the other one when he had a small epiphany.

Standing up straight and placing a hand on each of her shoulders, he stared at her chest. "I've just had an idea about how to feed the baby," he said in wonder.

Violet's forehead wrinkled in confusion. "What?" she asked, having a hard time understanding this sudden change of direction.

"Your breasts!" he said triumphantly and she tried to cover herself up as he stared at her. "You can breastfeed the baby."

"Klaus, I don't have any milk. I can't feed the baby," she said matter of factly.

"No, I know. We already have milk. That isn't the problem. We need a method of delivery." He was smiling, genuinely smiling at her like she was bee's knees. "We just have to invent a way to get the milk to seem like it's coming from your breast and the baby will have something to suckle on. Understand?"

She nodded, slowly at first. Violet did understand and hope started to blossom in her chest. She had never really hated the baby. She had hated not being able to care for it. She looked around for something to tie her hair back with, but Klaus was already handing her the sash from her dirty dress. She had needed a purpose and Klaus had given it to her. "I saw a med kit under the kitchen sink that had an iv bag in it. Make sure it's clean and warm up the milk just so it's warm to the touch. Also, see if the med kit has any medical tape in it, okay?" Violet instructed, sounding a lot like her old self.

"What are you going to be doing?" Klaus asked as he pulled up his pants and put his shirt back on, not bothering to button it up.

"I'm going to bathe really quick. I feel pretty grimy and would rather be clean to try this. It might take a few tries. I think even real mothers have a hard time breastfeeding at first. I know Sunny didn't latch on well for a few days and Mother was worried."

"I remember that. Remember when Mother had to stop breastfeeding when Sunny got her teeth because they were so sharp and Sunny kept biting her?" Klaus asked with a smile.

They each smiled tenderly at the shared remembrance. No, Violet didn't actually hate her parents, either.

It took only a few minutes to gather the supplies and wash out the old iv bag. Klaus poured the milk into the bag and adjusted the roller on the tubing to let out just a dribble of milk, testing it, before clamping off the tubing. There was only a small roll of tape, so they would have to be frugal with it.

Violet emerged from the tub, cleaner than Klaus had seen her in a long time, hair long and wet, wearing the soft shorts and the button up shirt he had left her on the counter. She smiled at him shyly, but he was so relieved to have Violet back to her old self that he could spare no emotion for shyness now. He looked the essence of new fatherhood, holding the baby to his bare chest and pacing the small space, patting her back in an effort to comfort her, while Violet sat on the couch beside the iv bag hung on a hook. She unbuttoned her own shirt, glancing shyly again at Klaus, and taped the tubing to the swell of her breast so that the end of it curved up by her nipple.

Klaus handed Violet the baby, then sat beside her, angling himself toward her and pulling Violet's back against his chest, offering support and comfort. "You can do this," Klaus said encouragingly into her ear. "Just be patient. It might not work right away," he gently reminded her. "I'm going to adjust the drip so it's very low at first, just so she can taste it on you. Are you ready?"

Violet nodded, bringing the baby's mouth to her nipple, but she was too fussy to settle. Violet tried soothing the baby by bouncing her a little in her arms and cooing at her.

"Try again," Klaus said. "She's just so hungry, she doesn't know what to do with herself anymore."

Violet once again brought the baby's mouth to her nipple, but once again she just fussed and shook her little head and fists. Violet looked back at her brother, eyebrows high in concern.

"May I?" asked Klaus, wrapping his arms around hers. She nodded. He took her small breast in his fingers, slick now from the dripping milk, and pinched up her nipple while pulling the baby's head close enough to shove the nipple deep into her mouth. He held the two firmly in place until the baby began to catch on that there was food to be had. As soon as she began to suckle in earnest Klaus adjusted the tubing to let out more milk.

Klaus laughed in quiet delight. "You are brilliant, you know that?" he whispered in Violet's ear. "Completely brilliant!"

"It was your idea." She always gave credit where credit was due.

"How does it feel?" Klaus asked curiously.

"To be honest, it is a bit intense," and she punctuated her sentence with a small hiss of pain as the baby pulled hard at her nipple.

"We'll just have to make sure you switch sides every time, so hopefully you won't get too sore." Klaus said thoughtfully. "It's going to be a hard job. Newborns need to eat every few hours."

But Violet was gazing down at the baby, whose little fingers were splayed on her breast. Obviously her motherly instincts were kicking in at full speed, thought Klaus, noticing her contented smile. The baby really was a beautiful miracle.

Klaus kept talking. "We can still keep looking for a bottle or something to make one out of, so you can have a break from feeding sometime."

"We'll see," she answered vaguely, and the pair became quiet, only the small sounds of the baby swallowing and breathing could be heard.

Klaus was watching his sister closely. She had done a complete turn around from an hour ago. He wondered at what exactly had brought her to such a dark place? Could it have been the death of their torturer, or her own near death experience? He also wondered at her feelings towards him. Surely her need for him had come from some place of despair. It wasn't normal for siblings to act in such an intimate way, but they were definitely not normal siblings. The whole episode had felt wrong to him, but when he thought hard on it, it was because it had felt too rushed, too forced, not because kissing his sister was taboo. Well, in any case, Violet had not been herself, and Klaus decided he would keep quiet on the issue for now. Though, as he watched her now, her shirt hung open with the baby suckling at her breast, her hair and body smelling clean, he realized Violet was the picture of young motherhood, and he, sitting behind her with his arms around her, was the father. He felt a lot of love for Violet just now and also, a large twinge of lust. He wanted to cup her other breast in his palm. He wanted to kiss the column of her neck and maybe pull her shirt completely off.

Instead, he pulled her hair all to one side, exposing her neck, and placed one chaste kiss there, causing goosebumps to rise on Violet's breasts and arms. He smiled and leaned his face into her neck and just breathed her in, happy for the success, and happy they were together in this moment.

When the milk was gone, Klaus spoke quietly. "She'll suckle all night if you let her, Violet. You'll probably have to pull her off." Violet gently pulled her breast out the the baby's mouth, who was fast asleep now. "Come on," Klaus urged her. "Bring the baby to bed with us tonight. We all need some sleep." He got up and led the way to the small bedroom, turning off lights as he went. They made a little nest of blankets for the baby and Violet laid beside her and Klaus beside Violet. He pulled Violet close to him, her back to his chest, a little worried that somehow, if he let her get too far away, she might sink into stupor again. He wrapped his arm tightly around her stomach and she wove her fingers through his.

Their bodies relaxed quickly, exhausted from the stress of the day. Just when Klaus thought Violet was asleep, she spoke. "About earlier…"

"We don't have to talk about it. It's okay," he interrupted her. Silence again.

She turned over in his arms, and he looked at her face in the darkness, so close to his that when she spoke he could feel her breath on his lips. "About earlier," she continued. "You really are…good." She emphasized the word good. "All good. Like I said before, sometimes it feels like you are the only good thing left in this entire world. Look what you did tonight. You saved the baby…I suppose we should start calling her by her name, and… and you saved me. I felt like I was lost, like I didn't want to live anymore. I wished that the mycelium had just finished me off, but you remind me that I have purpose. You remind me that there is good in this world." She reached up to tenderly stroke his cheek and then his lips. "And if I'm going to be stranded here on this island, or lost in a world of evil, or…or raising little girls, I want it to be with you. I know it's selfish to say, but I'm so thankful that you're here with me. I love you."

Klaus hadn't heard those words in a long time. He closed his eyes, letting the words wash over him. It felt so good to be loved and cared for. Is this what Violet had really wanted from him? He opened his eyes, ducked his head just a little so that his lips brushed against hers as he spoke. "I love you, too." Then he kissed her, a soft, soft, soft, barely there, kiss on the lips. It was a huge contrast to their bruising kisses from an hour ago. "Don't ever leave me again."

In answer, she kissed him again, pressed her trembling lips to his, and spread her fingers through his hair. This kiss felt like a promise. Klaus quickly gave in to it, parting his lips, meeting her tongue with his. He had thought the episode in the bathroom had been a crazy fluke, but now he realized just how deep this went. This new thing with Violet was real, and raw, and he was falling so fast he didn't think he could catch himself, and was unsure if he even wanted to.

They kissed for several long moments, Klaus clutching her tight to him, before he rested his forehead against hers. He placed several more chaste kisses to her lips, smiling, before he said, "Okay, sleep now." Violet hummed in acquiescence, nuzzled her face into Klaus's neck and soon the pair were dead asleep.