An awkward period of time came about after Ben and Klaus's talk. Not because they weren't on the same page, but because the decision had been made to admit Klaus to an institution, however, he wasn't healed enough to do so. Part of Ben was kind of grateful for the grace period though. It gave them time to spend as "one unit" again rather than operating on opposite sides of a chasm like as of late.

The other part of him knew that it was just going to make it harder to actually get Klaus to go. His brother had a way of guilting people into getting what he wanted by overloading them with his puppy-dog eyes and excessive amounts of love and pestering.

They hadn't talked about it for two days, but he just had a feeling that it was how it was going to go down.

At this point though, Ben was cautiously starting to wonder if there was even a need for rehabilitation. After a day of staying in the medical wing with Klaus's persistent whining about all the pain he was in, the next day looked up significantly. Not just with his pain, but with his attitude. It actually felt like Klaus was Klaus again.

Ben remembered coming home from helping move Vanya into of her new apartment (there were just too many sour memories of the Leonard/Apocalypse situation in the old one) to see Diego helping Klaus walk around the Academy hallways. Number Four had his arms slung over Two's shoulders, wincing in pain with each step but otherwise doing pretty well considering.

"I'm just saying… respectively… that if you took the stick out of your ass, you'd actually be kinda cool."

"Just because I don't shovel narcotics into my system and wake up with a new rando in my bed every morning doesn't mean I don't know how to have fun."

"Well, I'm not saying to do thaaaat but what was the last thing you did for fun?"

"Just last week I beat the shit out of a serial dog-shop robber."

"Fun, Diego."

"That's fun to me!"

"Pitiful. Just pathetical, really. Don't worry. Ben and I are going to get you out more."

"Christ, that makes me worry more. And you've gotta figure your shit out first. We going to go out with you wrapped around me like this?"

"Oh, what this? Pfft… I don't even need your help. I was just trying to appease your need for my love and attention." Klaus denied, not hiding the fact that he was totally bullshitting. Diego still ran with it.

"If you say so."

Number Two slipped out from under Klaus's weight causing for his knees to instantly buckles and his torso cave.

"WAIT,"

Diego caught Klaus by his upper arm right before he hit the ground, yanking him back to his feet. Four groaned and snaked his arm around Diego's shoulders again. Despite the obvious pain he was in, he giggled and even got Diego to smile.

"Fucking asshole…" Klaus chuckled.

It was moments like these where Ben started to get hope for not needing to send Klaus away, but he knew hope was a dangerous thing: Proceed with caution.

It didn't take long for an opportunity to exercise such caution to hit like a tidal wave. Within that very same evening, that same day that started off so well, all hope dissipated.

"Hey, where's Klaus?" Ben posed the simple yet loaded question to Luther who was bent over a magazine that recently displayed them all on the front page. Luther didn't look, obviously not too worried about Ben's inquiries.

"Uh… I went to get him to go shopping but he said that you wanted to take him out to a movie last second."

Ben just blinked, processing this.

Uh… No, I didn't.

The past couple days, ever since Klaus was well enough to walk on his own (not well, but he was getting there) they had a kind of understood cycle or system. No one felt like he could be left alone, so they accompanied him in shifts whether it be just hanging out in his room as he rambled about something or other, taking him out to do something relatively fun to try to distract him from his pain and cravings, or just dragging him along to errands like Luther was supposed to do.

Now, the very reason they had all agreed on this arrangement was coming to fruition faster than he had expected, if Ben even had expected it to happen at all. Knowing Klaus, he should've expected it.

Meanwhile, Luther's face slowly rose from the magazine, his face twisted in regretful realization. The brothers met eyes.

"He's not with you?" Luther asked.

Ben was shaking with frustration and worry now, his hand absentmindedly raising to push his fingers through his hairline. He looked away and closed his eyes shut again a rising migraine.

"No. No, Luther. He's not with me. And he's not with you, so…"

"Crap."

"Yeah."

"Maybe Diego grabbed him."

"Diego's preparing for his fight tonight, Allison's on the phone with Claire, Five is sleeping off a hangover, and Vanya's at practice." Ben's voice rose with each word as terrible images flooded his mind. Images that weren't just figments of a wild and dark imagination, no… Images of the very real and very recent event in which Ben found his brother practically dead and wasted away in the alleyway.

God, he couldn't bear to see that again. Neither could Klaus. In his current condition, even if he was healing each day, if he sought out any of the destructive behavior that had torn him down before, he surely wouldn't survive this time.

Luther jumped to his feet, shoving back the table in front of him.

"We'll find him."

And they did. Just not where or how they expected. Ben and Luther had jumped in a car and scanned the streets for a couple of hours before decided that they should return to the Academy to get the rest of the siblings involved as their search yielded zero results. When they did, they found a trembling Number Four balled up in the corner of the living room, waiting for them to come home.

As soon as Ben saw him, the first thing he checked for was signs of abuse- both physical and drug-related. He seemed relatively the same as when he first left him though, just a million times more antsy and wide-eyed.

"Hey. Hey…" Ben rushed to his side. Klaus didn't even acknowledge him. His eyes were set straight forward with that thousand-yard stare. He anxiously pulled at the skin around his fingernails, even drawing blood in some places. "Where have you been?"

As it turns out, Klaus escaped the house with every intention of scoring more dope or finding any number of distractions. Apparently, begrudgingly thinking against it, he made his way back home to wait for Ben again… Very similar to how he did the first time he went missing but this go-around it yielded much more favorable results. He used the word "favorable" loosely though. Klaus's state of mind was on the verge of going over the edge.

"I can't- I can't-"

Klaus moaned and let his forehead fall to his knees, his fingers scratching at his legs over his pants. Ben waited for him to give him some insight as to what was flooding his mind, but he stayed like that, hunched over and closed off.

"Talk to me, dude."

"I can't live with them, I can't live without them- I don't want to constantly be fucked up but Ben, I can't… I can't fucking deal with everything or- or-"

"Alright, alright. Come sit down on the couch and try to, uh- Breathe or something. I'll go get some tea, yeah?"

Ben was relieved that Klaus had resisted his urges this time, but he was truly on the brink and Ben could see that. It was terrifying how Klaus could go from his bubbly, slightly-annoying self one moment of the day to drop down to this kind of low the next. The way he kept talking too… How he desperately believed he couldn't function with or without drugs… he couldn't function at all. He couldn't live. At some point, he just kept repeating that.

It terrified Ben.

That was the final push for Six. If there was no way of predicting when Klaus would spiral into madness, he couldn't constantly be alert for the possibility. They couldn't keep this cycle going. Their lives were too hectic and Klaus wouldn't want that either… To be constantly "babysat" he'd say.

So that night, Ben brought out the papers that he had gathered and prepared a while ago. He sat with Klaus on the couch, intent on not getting up until he got what he came for.

"Ugh… We're still on that, huh?" Klaus asked sourly, glaring at the admission papers in Ben's hand.

"Yes. We're still on that." Ben wasn't playing games.

"Well…What if I just stayed at home and worked things out like-"

"Klaus. Look me in the eyes and tell me that you're sure that the next time you get an urge like tonight, you'll be able to resist."

His still-trembling brother looked away. That's what he thought.

"Fine. Just Westshore, right? Like, the three-day program thingie. Nothing crazy. I'm not going away for a fucking month or anything." Klaus rambled, taking a puff of his cigarette in the middle of the living room and grabbing the papers out of Ben's hands.

Ben didn't say anything. Klaus must've just taken that as agreement, but Ben had other motives that he just didn't want to disclose to Klaus. He knew how his brother would react if he knew that these papers weren't in fact for Westshore or even a drug rehab center in general. A form of rehabilitation, sure, but not just for drugs. Ben recognized a long time ago that Klaus needed more than that.

Another thing Six knew- Klaus wouldn't read the papers. He just flipped to the end and haphazardly signed his name sloppily at the bottom, shoving the forms back into Ben's lap.

"Ugh…" Klaus groaned, throwing his head back on the couch cushion and closing his eyes. "Maybe Casey will be there. That'd be okay, I guess."

Casey was one of Klaus's friends who frequented the Westshore Drug Rehabilitation center. Ben bit his lip nervously, refraining from answering again.

If he just didn't answer, he technically wasn't lying, right? He was just… withholding the truth.

The guilt infused pang in his chest told him otherwise, but what else was he supposed to do?


"It was a Moose but it was like… mini. Dog-sized maybe. Still, though. Its horns were all big and pointy. It was still scary and it was chasing me until it turned into Serena Williams but giant Serena Williams. She was trying to smash me with her giant croquet mallet-"

"She plays tennis, dumbass."

"Yeah. I know, Di-e-goooo. But in my dream, she played croquet, 'kay? So when she swung it, it made this high pitched screeching sound. Like those weird screechy monkeys, right? Chris Hemsworth came out of nowhere and was like 'Klaus, I want to be with you' and I was like… Chris. Please. I'm in the middle of a life-threatening situation right now. Come back in half an hour."

Klaus kept retelling the accounts of his dream from last night, his body sprawled out across the backseat of Diego's car and his forearms draped across his eyes. He talked fast and expressively as Ben was used to him doing, but there was another layer to his tone that told Ben that one of the only reasons Klaus was currently talking was to do anything to get his mind off of the bad thoughts creeping in. He didn't even need to glance back from the passenger seat to know that his brother was trembling from any mix of cravings, anxiousness, or pain from his previous injuries.

Ever since that night when Klaus had practically cracked up, he hadn't been the same. You couldn't keep his mind on one thing for more than five seconds, he was constantly nervously fidgeting, and sometimes he'd go into strange, dark spells of locking himself in his room alone, refusing to talk to anyone. Ben was able to make it in there once (after a good deal of pestering from outside his door) but even then, Klaus wouldn't talk. He'd just lie in bed facing away from his brother, curled up and unmoving for hours.

It was for that reason that Number Six knew for sure that drug rehab wasn't just enough. He just… couldn't bring himself to discuss that with Klaus. He knew his brother would throw a fit.

That's why Ben hadn't yet opened his mouth the whole car ride. Every word he said just felt like a lie with the knowledge that he wasn't giving Klaus the whole truth. If it all came out in the car ride too… Who knows what would happen.

The facility came into view. Ben recognized it from the photos in the pamphlets. He was glad that Klaus was distracted enough to wave away the fact that it took much longer to get here than Westshore would've taken.

A pit sunk deep in Ben's abdomen. This wasn't going to be a pretty goodbye, and he knew it. Once Klaus figured out what was happening, he'd go no other way than kicking and screaming.

Diego's car came to a stop right outside the large building. It was nice- expensive too. Thanks to Reginald, that wasn't an issue. At least the bastard was good for something.

Klaus didn't suspect anything, but once the car halted, so did his ramblings. The air in the car grew heavy and no one dared move for a second. Finally, Diego made the first move. He popped open the front door and opened the one near Klaus's feet. Four didn't move.

"C'mon." He said, hitting Klaus's legs playfully. He groaned and rubbed his face tiredly. Ben watched from the rearview mirror. He didn't dare turn. He was just waiting for the moment for his brother to realize that Ben had been lying this whole time. "Klaus. C'mon, bud."

Diego finally managed to get a reluctant Four to his feet. Number Two reached in the car and grabbed Klaus's bag for him, slinging it around his shoulder. Ben turned his eyes away from the mirrors at that point. He saw a twist of confusion flash over Klaus's face and he couldn't watch anymore.

"Wait-"

Diego sighed.

"Klaus…"

"No, no, no. You- you said Westshore. We're at the wrong place."

"We're not at the wrong place."

"No. No. Ben, what-"

Ben closed his eyes from the passenger seat, still unmoving. He felt Klaus's eyes on the back of his head through the car window.

"Ben, what the fuck? We agreed- I'm not going to some new place. Nuh-uh. No way."

"Let's just go inside. Check it out."

Ben heard things get physical and that's when he finally kicked himself into gear. He rushed out of the car and around to where Klaus was trying to hit away Diego's hands on his shoulders.

"Ben! Ben…" Klaus shoved past Diego and approached Six with big, pleading eyes. "Please. Please, you promised-"

"I didn't say anything." The words stung Klaus, he could tell. He saw realization hit his brother like a mean ton of bricks- all those times Klaus did all the talking about Westshore and Ben just wouldn't answer. In a split second, anger took over and before he could stop it, "Hello" and "Goodbye" were being shoved into his chest. Ben stumbled but absorbed the blow. He was expecting this. To be honest, he felt like he kind of deserved it.

"You fucking tricked me? Who said this was your decision?"

"I'm not doing this to spite you, dude! Drug rehab is- it isn't enough. Not this time."

"What- what do you mean? What the hell is this then?" Klaus threw an arm out towards the building that honestly looked more like a resort.

"They do drug rehab things, yeah… But they specialize in a bunch of stuff."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Like…" Ben searched for a better way of putting it, something that wouldn't set Klaus off. He couldn't find it though. Not when he was being hounded like this. Might as well just be totally up front now. "Mental health stuff."

"WHAT? Like a nut house? With the crazies?"

"Klaus. Calm it."

"Calm it? Fuck you, Diego. You were in on this too."

"Hey-"

"No. Fuck this. Fuck rehab. Take me home." Klaus tried to move for the car door, but Diego grabbed his wrist and held him in place. Klaus shoved his elbow into Diego's gut which just pissed him off. Two grabbed his wrist and twisted so that Klaus was held still in a painful position. "For fuck's sake!" Klaus grunted, finally wiggling his way out of Diego's grasp but not daring to go for the car again. He shook out his hand. "You can't make me go. I won't."

"Yes, actually we can." Ben said, crossing his arms to try to hide the fact that he truly did feel like a guilty piece of shit right about now.

"Uh- No you can't. Not how that works."

"You signed the papers. They can keep you for three days whether you want to or not. Then you can do whatever the hell you want, but that is how it works here."

Before he even got out his last word, Ben was nearly pummeled. He didn't even see Klaus come at him, he just felt blows to his chest, his shoulders, and what would've been his face if Diego hadn't stepped in and pulled Four off of him.

"You fucking. Deceitful. Asshole!"

Ben took a few stumbling steps back away, surprised but also not-so-surprised by the attack. He remained patient though, straightening his hair and sighing.

"Because I knew this is how you'd react!"

As Klaus struggled in Diego's firm grasp, Ben watched his resistance dissolve. His face morphed again, and suddenly he was a whole different shade of Klaus. His body slumped in Two's arms. Diego let him go cautiously and Klaus moved forward. Ben instinctively flinched, but Klaus wasn't out for blood. He was out for guilt and sympathy.

"Ben… Benny, please…" Klaus gripped at his jacket, drilling a pleading gaze into his eyes. "Please don't leave me here. Please."

"Don't do that to me."

"I can't. Ben, please. I can stay at home with you and-"

"Klaus," he started to regretfully object, hating how even though he knew Klaus was playing games with him, it still sent pangs of shame through his chest. He didn't even get to spit out the argument though- Diego had gently grabbed Klaus and was pulling him away. That sparked the anger again though. Within that short moment, Klaus was a whole new person again.

"Ben, I swear to Christ. If you leave me here, I will not come back afterward. I won't come home. I'm done. I'm serious!" He called, Diego pulling him further and further away towards the front doors.

"Wait, Diego. I want to come-" Ben tried to follow.

"No. Stay out here."

Ben took a hesitant step forward, wanting to be there for Klaus when they admitted him even if he didn't want Ben there.

"Ben!" Diego scolded. "Stay. Here."

"I won't forgive you for this. Do you hear me? Ben!"

Six remained frozen in his spot, watching Klaus try to thrash his way out of Diego's hold. His eyes never left his. Ben wanted to tell himself that this was just Klaus being wildly irrational and trying to say whatever he needed to in order to get out of the situation, but his eyes… His eyes were fucking daggers. His eyes were true to his words and Ben couldn't deny that every insult and threat that he was making was hitting him hard.

By some miracle though, Diego got Klaus through the front doors and out of sight.

My God… Ben thought. What if this was the last time I ever see him?

Klaus didn't mean it. He wouldn't be able to just… drop Ben for his life, right?

The one thing that made Ben not-so-sure was the gravity of what he just did. He basically tricked Klaus into imprisoning himself. Granted, three days in a resort-style rehabilitation center was hardly a prison, but the method in which he got his brother here sat sour in his stomach. Looking back though, Ben wasn't entirely sure that he wouldn't do it all over again though. If he didn't force it, Klaus would never go.

He just hoped that it wouldn't all be pointless. If Klaus was still in his stubborn mindset three days from now, then he was free to get up and leave. And then what? If he didn't come home, who knows where he'd go or what he'd do to himself.

Please, please… Ben begged to anyone or anything that may be listening. Please make him want to stay.

Typically, people stayed for about a week after the three days. That's what the research he did turned up. The three-day period was just if you slipped into an irrational frenzy and suddenly wanted to drop out. Your earlier signature from when you were more rational was supposed to veto that. After three days, you could keep going with the program or leave.

Ben had faith in Klaus though, despite his pitfalls. He knew his brother wanted to get better, but there was this other side to him that constantly resisted.

Diego didn't come out after five minutes like Ben thought he would, so he slowly made his way back to the car, suddenly needing to sit down. He painfully pulled the door open, his muscles feeling like useless, shivering enigmas. Not to mention, he was already sore from where Klaus battered him.

Dropping into the seat, Ben's throat instantly swelled to a painful level. He felt like there was a softball just sitting in his esophagus. He clenched his jaw and took a deep breath, turning his eyes down away from the building. He needed to get out of here. He needed to leave before he went right back in there and took Klaus home with him.

The front door opened, scaring Ben half-to-death. He watched Diego climb in, unaccompanied and free from Klaus's bag that had been slung over his shoulder earlier. He started the car without a word and they left. Ben watched the building shrink in the rearview mirror, trying not to blame himself for how things went down.

He just wanted his brother to get better. If that meant that Ben pissed Klaus off enough to relinquish a place in his brother's life… As much as it stung, so be it.


So sorry this took so long! One more chapter for this story and then I think I'm going to start some Dave/Klaus stuff.

Did you guys see the new interview with Robbie about Season 2? Lots of cool things in there. He's hinting that drugs won't be Klaus's main schtick anymore and he focuses all that energy elsewhere.

So... what do you think he focused on instead? Any theories?

I hope it's Dave's ghost or something like that. That'd be a win, and he needs one. Especially because Robbie talked about how he loved the whole Vietnam/falling-in-love stuff that happened with Klaus's character in the same interview.

Also- Season 2 reunion photos being posted everywhere with the cast members! Blesssssss, it's coming!