Yes, I'm writing a new book. It's entirely separate from my other books and is obviously not in my universe because of it. This is an after The End story. Let's hope it goes well. Begin!

~Normal POV

"It feels like we've been sitting in this boat for months."

"It's only been 2 weeks."

In that small boat were the Baudelaires, Violet, Klaus, Sunny, and their adoptive family member Beatrice Jr. Violet was considered to be Bea's adoptive mother, while her siblings were her adoptive uncle and aunt. For 2 weeks their boat drifted across the ocean towards dry land from their old home, an unnamed island which became Kit Snicket's final resting place. This was their only chance to get back to society and start normal lives again. Their hearts full of hope that they would also find their Quagmire triplet companions again as well. Kit had told them a year prior that Quigley, the lost Quagmire, had been sent to reunite with his siblings, but she wasn't aware of what happened to the three of them after that.

Violet was currently feeding Bea some soft food from their dwindling storage of supplies; all the while her mind was filled with longing. She missed Duncan Quagmire. Her charming, brave, and noble, journalist occupied her thoughts most every day since they were separated so long ago by a self-sustaining hot air mobile home. She missed Isadora too, she's her best friend, but Duncan was her true love. Her brain unwillingly drifted to thinking of him more often.

Klaus was driving the ship and thinking of his own issues. He missed Isadora Quagmire, but there was more to it than just him being over the moon for her. He needed to see her again. Klaus Baudelaire learned the feeling of heart break some time ago, and it made him appreciate and love Isadora all the more. It gave him a renewed energy to want to see her again; one that was still there even a year later.

But in the back of his mind, was a quiet thought that he never shared with his sisters; it was the knowledge that if he did ever see the one who broke his heart again he would forgive her. He had no feelings for her, but he would forgive her anyway. He would be with Isadora, for good this time, and that made it worth the effort to forgive. Violet and Sunny knew the feeling of being hurt by that girl in some way too, but they were… considerably less open to the idea of forgiving her. Or at the very least, it felt like they were. It was a subject that simply wasn't discussed; they never had the time with all the things that happened in their lives so quickly. After it happened, they had to rush to Hotel Denouement and the rest is history from there. Klaus appeared to be the only one who even still thought about it.

Sunny was sitting at the front of the boat looking around through their spyglass. Violet set Beatrice down in her basket and started a conversation with Klaus about their situation.

Sure enough after some time, Sunny interrupted them by shouting that she had spotted their destination: Briny Beach. Once upon a time, this place was a particularly bad memory for the Baudelaires, but now it was something they could look at with joy again. But that was not the only thing that Sunny had found. She had noticed something landing on the beach that looked like a blimp held up by several dozen large balloons, and just getting off of it were exactly the people who occupied the minds of the elder Baudelaires'.

"Duncan!"

"Violet!"

She climbed out of the boat and gave her journalist a very tight hug and blinked back a few tears of joy at being in his arms. Klaus helped Sunny get Bea's basket out of the boat, and once he did he was practically tackled with a hug from Isadora. However, unlike his sister, Klaus did shed a few happy tears from holding his beloved poet in his arms. The hot air mobile home retreated into the sky as this reunion happened; Hector had accomplished his task and could go back to living the way he wanted to. Sunny was giving Quigley a hug and she noticed how happy he was to see Duncan and Violet together. Almost as if it was something that didn't bother him one bit.

"I'm so happy to see you guys again!" Duncan said wiping his watery eyes.

"We have a surprise too," Violet replied. They all figured on talking about their happy reunion more once they have someplace to stay first.

She reached into their basket and picked up Beatrice to introduce her. Each Quagmire triplet got a chance to hold her. When it was Quigley's turn he got a little annoyed at first that Bea pulled some of his shaggy hair and played with it, but he didn't stop her. Duncan and Isadora snickered at this because they were well aware that their brother was… protective of his unruly hair so it was an unseen occurrence to have him let someone touch it. Perhaps the fact that Bea was so young was a factor. Quigley might not have seemed it, but he did like kids.

"What was the plan from here," Isadora asked handing Bea over to Violet, "We don't exactly have anywhere to go."

"We were going to figure it out once we got here," Klaus replied.

"You won't have to, children."

The seven of them looked over at the road to see a smiling man they did not recognize approach them. Before introducing himself, he held up a spyglass to show he was friendly. Behind him they could see a parked taxi.

"I'm Pecuchet Bellerophon, but you can call me Pip. I'm a taxi driver that's been sent by the Duchess of Winnipeg to give you a ride."

"I'm afraid we're still not too knowledgeable about V.F.D., what's the Duchess of Winnipeg," Klaus asked.

"The position is something of a high authority figure in the organization. The current one took the role over just last year and has been working round the clock trying to find you Baudelaires and Quagmires. You do know her though, Miss Jacqueline Scieszka."

"Jacqueline," Violet said in astonishment.

"That name was mentioned in The Incomplete History of Secret Organizations, it said she was next in line for the position," Duncan commented.

Pip nodded. "She's a very resourceful woman. And she's given me a mission to take you to her current location so she can set up proper living arrangements for you. And you don't need to worry about a fee; I only accept tips in the form of book suggestions, at least from other volunteers."

With that, Pip helped the children get whatever they intended to keep from what little they had into the trunk of his taxi and they all carefully climbed inside. The Baudelaires only had their supplies in the boat and only some of it was necessary while the Quagmires had been given backpacks of extra clothes from Hector as gifts. (Quigley still had his bag from his stay with Jacques Snicket) Bea's basket was put on the Quagmires' laps in the back seat, since there was very little room for eight people in the car. Pip assured them that it wouldn't be too long of a drive, and was happy to answer any questions he could along the way.

"Do you know anything about the Hotel Denouement fire," Violet asked as Pip started down the road.

"I know enough, it was supposed to be the last safe place. We've got other places that serve us for now until we finish rebuilding things. But I assume you were wondering something specific about it?"

Violet remembered all the people who had been in that building when the fire started. "Did anyone make it out?"

"Yes a few people did, Frank Denouement for one."

Klaus looked skeptical. "You're sure it's Frank, not Ernest?"

Pip smiled, amused at the obvious assumption. "It's Frank; he's working directly for Jacqueline until we get the time to rebuild the hotel."

"Frank, Bea's father Dewey, and their brother Ernest were identical triplets," Violet explained to the confused Quagmires, "Ernest was a fire-starter unfortunately."

"I remember the name Denouement from the book," Isadora said, "It's how we found out they were our distant cousins on our mother's side."

"So Bea's got one blood uncle," Quigley commented with a small smile.

"That's Dewey and Kit's daughter? She's got two blood uncles actually," Pip replied, "Her other one is on Kit's side, her brother Lemony Snicket. An old friend of mine he is, I haven't seen him in ages. I'm sure Jacqueline can track him down for you."

"We would appreciate that," Violet said, "Bea deserves to know her real family too. Did anyone else survive the fire?"

"Judy Strauss, Jerome Squalor, and… that's all I know for sure, sorry we don't know how many made it out or not. I know Jerome is back to living at his apartment with his new husband, Charles. I think he gave up on being a volunteer and co-runs a lumber mill now. And Judy retired from her position on the high court to take over as the new principal of Prufrock Preparatory School. I've heard it's a much nicer place to live now."

The Baudelaires explained who Judy Strauss was, and what she meant to them since they were relieved that she had survived. Pip then told them about the Daily Punctilio getting taken over by another old friend of his named Moxie Mallahan. The newspaper was much more honest and well written now, which made Duncan eager to see it for once. He even mentioned that its first new publication was about them being innocent of the murder of Jacques Snicket, disguised as Count Olaf. But Pip didn't have details on how the paper got the information that they were innocent.

It appeared that in the year they were gone, things had gotten much better in the world. But once he was finished talking about it, he noted that they had arrived at their destination, a small office building that was a front for V.F.D. The children got out of the car, and before leaving Klaus gave Pip a tip that Bridge to Terabithia is a fantastic book as his requested payment. Duncan helped Violet carry Bea's basket and the others grabbed their bags and they went inside to meet with the new Duchess of Winnipeg.

~End of Chapter

I know this chapter is mostly setting up the story, and there's no real ship interaction yet, but you know there will be later! Either way I hope you like it, and I will see you in the next chapter!