A/N: Sorry about this chapter taking so long. Holidays and Midterms L. Anyway, here it is. Hope you like.

Violet stood frozen in place. She willed her mouth to speak but nothing came out.

"Aren't ya going to say hi?" asked her visitor with a smile. Suddenly, Violet seemed to melt and a smile slowly appeared on her face. Then, diving forward, she threw her arms around the person standing in front of her.

"Quigley!"

Quigley's smile grew larger as he hugged the ecstatic girl to him.

"I thought I'd never see you again. What happened to you?" Violet asked, looking up at the boy but not daring to let him go for fear he'd disappear again. "And when did you get so tall?"

Quigley laughed lightheartedly and hugged her closer not wanting to let her go for the same fear.

"It's kind of a long story, and we don't have much time. I was sent to get you. You are supposed to meet the volunteers staying here to help teach; although you already know some."

"Oh." Violet said as she reluctantly pulled away. "But you have to promise that you'll tell me soon."

"I promise." Quigley said as they left the room.

"Are Duncan and Isadora here?"

"Yes, they are. We were all saved together. They actually went to get Sunny and Klaus. J.C. told sent us to find you."

"Oh, he told you who to find?"

"Well.. Uhh, actually we just decided that we would split up and find each of you. I volunteered to find you since I had a pretty good idea of where you would be."

"And how did you know that?"

Quigley smiled knowingly. " Just a lucky guess."

Violet smiled back at him. It gave her a strange feeling to see him again after so much time and to be so close. She had thought she would never see him again. Her smile widened. She had always been very fond of him.

As they continued walking throughout the endless hallways, they told the stories of how they had come to be here. Quigley told of the daring rescue of him, his family, Fiona, and her family by a group of volunteers. He told of the horrible darkness of the "Great Unknown". He also told how happy he had been when he had heard about the Baudelaires finally surfacing after nearly three years missing. But, as Violet listened, doubt and fear take a prominent place in her thoughts. Did he know about what happened at Hotel Denouement? If he did, what did he think of her and Klaus and Sunny? Did he still trust them? Did he still believe that she was noble? Did she still believe that she was noble?

"Violet? Are you okay?"

Violet blinked and shook the thoughts from her mind. "Sorry. I was just thinking about something."

"Oh? What were you thinking about?" Quigley asked with a mischievous grin.

"You. I always think a lot about you." she stated before thinking. She blushed lightly when she realized what she had said.

Quigley's eyes widened a bit, and, a second later, he was blushing as well.

"I think about you a lot too." he replied quietly.

Violet's blush deepened, and she opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off.

"Well, I see you've found her." said the stranger standing a few feet in front of them.

Quigley cleared his throat. "Yes ma'am. I have. It wasn't too hard. I already had a pretty good idea of where she was." he said smiling down at the now very close and very red Violet Baudelaire.

Violet couldn't help but smile back at him as his blue eyes seemed to sparkle when he looked at her.

This exchange did not seem to go unnoticed by the stranger who had interrupted them only a few seconds ago. The woman looked between the two who now seemed to have forgotten she was there. Repeating Quigley's earlier action, she cleared her throat rather loudly. "I don't mean to interrupt, but we have important matters that need attending to." she said a bit bitterly.

Violet and Quigley blinked then turned to look at the woman as if just now realizing she was there.

The woman turned and opened a set of doors. "This way." she instructed as she disappeared.

Violet followed Quigley as he entered the room behind the woman. It was a large room with desks lined neatly in five rows. At the front of the room was a large desks with a chalkboard behind it. It was very clean and books lined the left and right walls. Behind the chalkboard was a window that served as the north wall. Looking through it, Violet could the huge field that she had seen earlier when they had first arrived, but now there were people out on the field. Most seemed to be between the ages of eleven and fourteen. They were lined up into four columns. Two adults, who Violet assumed were teachers, stood facing them. One of the teachers was pacing back and forth in front of the group as if explaining something to them.

"Glad you could join us, Miss Baudelaire."

Violet spun around. There stood the woman who had shown them into the room. Next to her stood a chubby man about medium height with a bushy white beard and graying hair. His eyes were big and a knowing smile played at his lips as he watched her. Next to him, J.C. stood straight, smiling widely at the eldest Baudelaire. Beside him were a pleasant looking woman and a fine looking man who were both smiling politely. Violet glanced over at Quigley who was smiling lightly at the chubby man.

"Thank you for finding her for us, Mr. Quagmire. You may return to class now."

Quigley glanced at Violet then nodded. "Thank you, sir." he said as he left.

Violet watched him go then looked at the party before her, unsure of what to expect.

"I'm so glad to see that you and your family have arrived safely."

"Where are they?" Violet asked after looking for the answer ever since she had seen the strange woman.

"They are settling into their rooms. We have already had our talk with them. We decided that we would speak with you separately since you are the oldest and we consider you as guardian." He tilted his head slightly and looked her up an down. "We have heard of your situation this past year from J.C., and it seems that you have done a fine job, especially considering your past circumstances."

Violet watched the man's shoes as he spoke, unable to look him in the eye. She wasn't sure what they thought about her "past circumstance". but what bothered her the most was the fact that they considered her as the guardians of the Baudelaires. She had taken on the role of guardian a long time ago , but she had never thought of herself as the actually guardian but more as it was just part of her being the oldest; it was her responsibility, her promise. It also may have ha something to do with the fact tat every guardian they'd ever had had failed them in some way or another… even their parents. And Violet didn't like those odds.

So many questions crowded through her mind that she didn't know which one to ask first. That seemed to be happening to her a lot lately. "Why are we here?"

"To learn, of course. That is.. If you choose to stay."

Violet looked out the window at the kids now doing some sort of exercise. She ran it through her mind, going over the advantages and disadvantages. This place seemed to be safe. The school would take care of them, no more money problems. Violet would no longer have to worry about having enough money for food or clothing. They'd receive the education they needed and not just the lessons Violet would give them every other night that Klaus had learned long ago. And here, they'd have ample space and tools to practice their favorite hobbies and possibly pick up some new ones. They'd have Quigley, Duncan, and Isadora, and maybe even Fiona, although Violet wasn't sure how Klaus (or even herself for that matter) would feel about that. Quigley seemed to like it here.

Violet nodded to herself. The pros outweighed the cons. Besides, they were already unpacked. "What needs to be done?"

The man smiled widely and turned to J.C. he whispered something to him and J.C. nodded and left. Then he turned back to Violet. "Would you mind coming with me to my office?"

"Not at all."

"Then follow me." And with that, he turned and left the room with Violet in tow.

"Oh, forgive my rudeness. I haven't even introduced myself yet. My name is Mr. McClain." the man said turning to shake Violet's hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. McClain." Violet replied as they began walking again.

"The pleasure is all mine, Miss Baudelaire. You will meet the staff and other volunteers later. Right now, we just have a few things to get settled. Ah, here we are." he said as they turned a corner and opened a door that had "Headmaster" engraved on a brass plate on the front. "Hello, Mrs. Lansley." he addressed a small, skinny woman sitting behind a secretarial desk outside what Violet took to be Mr. McClain's office. She didn't look up but rather mumbled a brief hello and continued working.

"Mrs. Lansley, I would like you to met our newest student, Miss Violet Baudelaire."

When Mrs. Lansley heard Violet's name, her head shot up and her eyes fixed on Violet with her mouth hanging slightly open. Her expression was one of disbelief and she seemed to be having trouble breathing.

"Violet Baudelaire?" she repeated in a high, squeaky voice.

Mr. McClain cleared his throat. "Yes. She and her siblings will be attending school here."

Mrs. Lansley shook her head then smiled at Violet as she stood up to shake the eldest Baudelaire's hand. "It's an honor."

Violet blinked, taken aback by her choice of wording, then smiled back at the woman. "Thank you."

Violet followed Mr. McClain into his office. There were so many things she tried to understand. She tried to answer all the questions she still had running wild in her head, giving her a headache. She was worried about Klaus, Sunny, and Beatrice. Did they know where she was and that she hadn't just walked off into her own little world and forgotten them? Were they okay?

Violet rubbed her temples and squeezed her eyes shut. But when she opened them, she forgot about her headache. The questions and worries that had been running wild just a few seconds ago froze in place. For there, on the corner of Mr. McClain's desk was a picture that she had never seen before but was familiar. It wasn't the picture that Violet found so familiar, but rather the people in the picture. It was a picture of two people who seemed to be laughing. It looked as if the woman had slipped and the man had caught her. The woman was now slumped in the man's arms with her head thrown back, laughing. The couple seemed so happy and young. It seemed as if nothing could touch them; nothing could harm them. But Violet knew differently, for the two young people smiling and laughing at each other…. were her parents.

"Ah, yes. That picture was taken a long time ago when your parents were just friends."

Violet blinked several times as she was pulled back into reality. "How'd you know them?" she asked quietly.

"We went to school together. Actually, it was this very school that we attended."

Violet turned to face the man who sighed as a look of sadness washed over him. "Those were good times."

After a few seconds of silence, he sighed again and asked, " So shall we get on with it?"

/

Violet walked back to her room later that night, every once in a while glancing down at the map she knew Quigley had made. She had spent all afternoon with Mr. McClain going over the necessary paperwork. They had finished only an hour ago and he had insisted on her having dinner with him. Now, she planned to make it back to her room and crawl into bed. But, of course, she couldn't do that. As soon as she had stepped through her doorway, Klaus and Sunny were there pelting her with questions and details about their day. She sighed and answered what she could and listened to their stories of their day. They had gotten Beatrice to sleep just a little while ago. Finally after half an hour, Violet finally got Klaus and Sunny to go back their own rooms and go to sleep. She glanced towards her new nightstand and noticed an alarm clock. She smiled. 'They must not want me to be late.' After setting the clock for early the next morning, she rolled over on her side and closed her eyes. She fell asleep to the no longer familiar anticipation of the first day at a new school.