Prologue

Violet dialed the phone number she had memorized, but rarely used, dreading that he would answer, excited at the prospect of hearing his voice, scared of the very real possibility of rejection. He picked up on the second ring. Of course he did.

"Violet?" he answered, knowing it was her already.

"Hi, Stranger," she greeted, her heart beating so fast, she could feel it pumping hard in her chest. "Yeah, it's me. How are you?"

"I'm good. Work has been good. Keeping me busy, you know?" His voice sounded so far away. Too far away.

"Yeah."

"How's Sunny?" he asked.

"She's good. She's looking forward to coming to see you next month. Sounds like she has the whole week figured out, day by day. You'll have to take her around." Violet switched the phone to her other ear.

"Of course. We've been planning it all out. She wishes you would come, too," he paused. "So do I."

"Listen, Klaus," she started nervously. "I've called to tell you some bad news."

"Oh?"

"Jerome Squalor has passed away. Cancer," she said by way of explanation.

"Well, I guess I'm sorry to hear that," he said flatly, not sounding very sorry.

"His lawyer has requested that we come to the funeral. Jerome has left something for us in his will, but we have to come in person. I…I think I would like to see what it is," she had to put it out there, already knowing what his response would be.

"Violet," he said, exasperated already with this conversation. "He doesn't have anything you need. It's just fucking VFD sending us on another wild goose chase. Don't fall for it. Please?"

"But what if it's…" she began, but he interrupted.

"It's not. He already told us he didn't have any answers for us, Vi."

"Something might have changed. It's been a long time since we last saw him, and he had a lot of pressure from both sides of the schism back then," she reasoned. There was a long silence as she figured what she could say to convince him.

"The funeral is out in Seattle."

"Oh my God, that's just another reason not to go. A plane ticket to Washington probably costs a thousand dollars. Why the hell is he way out there, anyway?"

"Treatment center, I think. Anyway, I was thinking we could drive there. I could pick you up, meet you at the last train stop in Virginia where we usually trade Sunny, and... maybe we could have a road trip," she said hopefully. "We can take the weekend to get there. Do you have any time off?" More silence.

"Are you taking Sunny out of school?" he asked, feeling her out.

"I wasn't planning on it. It's a closed weekend, anyway. They're having some special grandparent's event that the school is hosting. Of course I'll let them know we're out of town in case they need to reach us for an emergency." Sunny went to a boarding school, only a few towns over from Violet's house. Violet hated sending her there at first, but Klaus was adamant that she get a good education. It turned out to be nothing like the boarding school she had experienced. Sunny was thriving and involved heavily in her studies and extracurriculars. Violet still ached for her, though, and eagerly looked forward to every one of her home leave weekends, where they usually cuddled together on the couch and gossiped all about Sunny's friends and teachers. Sunny had lived up to her name. She was pure sunshine and a joy to have around.

"So…just us? Do you think that's a good idea, Vi?" he asked, like she hadn't already thought all about it. Like she needed to be reminded? And just that simple question had her throat closing up in an ache, an all too familiar burn, and she had to take a minute to breathe, to get back to normal, before she could answer, which was really the answer in itself, wasn't it?

"I want to see you, Klaus. I miss you so much," and there it was. Her whole life boiled down into five words, because all she did was miss him, every minute of every day. "I…I didn't know when we decided to take some time apart that it would mean forever."

"Violet," he sighed. "It kinda has to be."

"If you come with me to Seattle, I'll come with Sunny to visit you in DC next month," she pulled out her only bargaining chip, because Klaus really did want all three of them together to visit the exhibit he had been working on at the library, and had not been above using Sunny to beg their big sister to come along every chance she could get.

"Really?"

"Yeah. So…time off? When should I pick you up?"

Klaus let out a long groan. "Please, please, please, do not get your hopes up about Jerome's will. I promise you, it will turn out to be nothing. When has it ever been something useful? Hmmm?"

"Never."

"That's absolutely right. Never! Don't forget it and don't say I didn't warn you"

"So what day? Can I come Friday morning or will you need to work?" Violet was grinning now, knowing she had won.

"Yeah, okay," he resigned. "I can be at the station by 10 am. Is that too early?"

"No of course not. I always wake up early, anyway." She would be well on the road by 6 to get there in time. "Great," Violet was pacing on her end of the conversation, and had walked all the way into the bathroom to check her expression in the mirror, to make sure of what she was really feeling. She would see Klaus in less than two days. Her reflection showed relief, some worry, and a huge smile. "I…I can't wait to see you little brother."

He chuckled, "Yeah. It will be really good to see you. What, has it been something like five months, I think?" It had been a really long time. They only saw each other these days whenever they were visiting Sunny at school at the same time for an event, or if he was picking their little sister up or dropping her off at Violet's, maybe sometimes a meal out. "Okay, bring some snacks. It's not a proper road trip without music and snacks."

"Okay," she was nodding, even though he couldn't see her. "Okay. I'll see you Friday at 10. Text me if anything changes."

"Will do. Okay…", and she could hear the smile in his voice, "goodbye, Violet."

"Bye." Violet squealed as soon as she hung up. She would see her brother and maybe, hopefully, find out more about the mystery surrounding her parents. Klaus would keep her grounded on that count. He had become very jaded on any subject involving VFD, and rightly so, but her curiosity didn't abate with time or disappointment.

Now there were preparations to be made. Laundry for packing, food to buy, and she needed to call the school to let them know of her trip. What would Sunny say now that she had agreed to the DC trip? It would be fun to see Sunny and Klaus together. They had always been thick as thieves. There was a time when they had all been thick as thieves, but those were not good days, not really, nor good memories, though she desperately missed it anyway. Maybe she only missed what might have been.