A/N: One of the main parts in the last chapter was Violet's inner struggle, I guess, over how she felt about Quigley. That's what was going on with all the arguing with her "conscience" was about. I don't know if everybody got that so I was just explaining. I figured some of you might like to know what's going on inside their heads. And remember, they're only human. This chapter kinda goes into the way Quigley feels about Violet. Plus, some extra plot twists. So here it goes.

The woman, who was surprisingly without her robe, slowly approached Violet. Violet unconsciously moved closer to Quigley. Their sides were almost touching, but Quigley never let go of her arm; he slid his hand down to gently grab her wrist so he could pull her behind him if necessary. He wasn't sure who this woman was, but she was not about to come near Violet.

Justice Strauss was too focused on Violet to notice any of this. She wore a disbelieving look as she searched Violet's own face for any proof that it was a disguise. When she had moved closer yet had found no such proof, she turned her head slightly keeping her eyes on Violet.

"Jerome. Jerome, come here. You won't believe this."

"What is it? What have you… found?" Jerome Squalor asked as he came around the same corner that Justice Strauss had just seconds before appeared from.

Now, Violet was by no means afraid of these two. She had been up against much worse and much more menacing. But she was afraid that they would protest her and her siblings being here (she didn't know what they would say about poor little Beatrice.) So she stood there staring at the two with no expression.

Quigley, noticing her discomfort, moved closer but stopped himself from wrapping his arm around her for comfort. He didn't know how she would react and now was not the time to find out. He looked at the two strangers and waited to see if he would be needed to defend Violet or not.

Violet had felt when Quigley had moved closer. Quigley was slightly behind Violet; and she felt his arm lightly bump her shoulder blade, making goose bumps appear on her arms. She frowned slightly when he raised his arm a bit then quickly lowered it as if changing his mind. A part of her had so wanted him to wrap his arm around her; but his hand still held her wrist, and she was happy with that. She had almost forgotten about the people in front of her. Almost.

"Well, I don't believe it! Violet! You have grown since the last time we saw you. I bet your brother and sister have as well. Are they here with you?"

Violet wasn't sure if he meant here at the Academy or here just down the hall.

"They're in their rooms a few halls over." she replied answering both possibilities.

"What is keeping you two? We must hurry or we will be late for the meeting. And being late is never good, you know." Mr. McClain said as he also appeared from around the corner followed by a stern looking woman, the same stern looking woman whom Violet and Quigley had followed into the classroom where she had met Mr. McClain.

"Why, hello there, Violet. You're looking refreshed. I trust these past few weeks have been good." Mr. McClain said cheerfully.

Violet smiled a small smile and nodded. "They have."

A confused look came across his face. "I say, what are you doing here? This is hallway I2. Isn't your room in hallway J4?" he asked.

At this, Violet shifted her eyes, and the back of her neck became warm. "Well, you see.. I.. uhh.. I just-"

"Isn't it obvious?" the stern looking woman interjected. She then looked back to Violet and Quigley. "Are you two always that close together?"

Immediately, Quigley let go of Violet's wrist and took a step back trying to keep his face from becoming cherry.

Violet's ears began to grow hot, but she pushed it down. "I just had a question about one of these maps that I thought Quigley could answer."

"Mhmh. And that's why he was holding on to you for dear life."

"Well, if two complete strangers approached you and your friend exclaiming said friend's name while babbling on about Count Olaf and such, wouldn't you act defensively?"

The woman frowned but said nothing. Violet turned to Mr. McClain who wore a strange look and a weird smile. "We were just heading to a meeting. Would you two like to join us?"

Violet and Quigley looked at each other then back to Mr. McClain. Nodding, Quigley answered, "We'd love to."

Mr. McClain's face brightened. "Very well. Come along. Oh, and this is Ms. Foster." he said pointing to the woman who was still frowning at Violet.

"It's nice to meet you." Violet said politely.

"Hello." Quigley said shortly. He didn't like the way she was looking at Violet.

"Hello." Ms. Foster replied, nodding to them as they followed Mr. McClain down the hall.

Immediately after they entered the meeting room, Violet and Quigley sat in the back. Violet looked around the room for any more familiar faces. Near the left wall, Hal stood talking with Charles and two other people Violet didn't know. Captain Widdershins sat in a chair facing a woman in her early forties. Hector sat at the table looking over a stack of papers. And, there, in the corner of the room, stood a man who's face was hidden by his hat. For some reason, he seemed familiar; but Violet couldn't quite place him. J.C. stood next to him, leaning against the wall. She considered waving at him, but feared she'd draw a lot of attention to herself. And, again, she wasn't one for attention. She had no idea how she was going to pass theater.

Standing around the middle of the room were Violet's teachers and other people who she guessed to be the teachers she had not yet met. Scattered about the rest of the room were strangers. All together, there seemed to be between 150 and 200.

Suddenly, Frank (yes, she was sure it was Frank!) approached the front of the room and turned to face everyone. "Excuse me. May I have everyone's attention?" He waited until all was quiet before continuing. "Alright. I now call to order the meeting of the Representatives of the V.F.D. Well, the representatives who could make it today. Our numbers have grown greatly in the last couple of years. We now have four safe places where volunteers can gather, and we are currently working on the fifth. Now, I will hand the meeting over to our honorable host, Mr. Roger McClain."

"Thank you, Frank. I am honored to be this years host. As you all know, I am head of this Academy. And I would just like to present a brief report on our school. We have a record of two thousand students. We have three hundred on staff not including those that volunteer. All our students are taught the necessities for volunteering, whether they know it or not. There are very few students who are struggling and they are given the attention needed to pass if not more. Recently, we've had a steady flow of students joining us, many of whom are very talented and expected to do great things for this organization." Violet could have sworn she saw him glance her and Quigley's way. "You may take that bit of news as bad or good or whatever else you believe it is. Now, on to the construction of the next safe house. I believe that we should avoid anything flammable. One of our best choices would be to build it out of some sort of metal, like this entire building is. We could always…"

As Mr. McClain continued to ramble on, Violet focused her attention on the man across the room. His face was still hidden even though everyone was focused on Mr. McClain. Well, almost everyone. J.C. had moved away from him and had seated himself at the table.

Quigley caught her staring and looked about to find what had so thoroughly caught her attention. When his gaze fell on the man in the corner of the room, he immediately knew he was the one who had captured her attention. He could tell Violet was frustrated, but he wasn't sure why.

He looked at her and bumped her with his elbow. When she turned to him, he quietly asked her if she was okay. She nodded her reply then turned her attention back to Mr. McCain, but he knew she wasn't listening.

Violet watched Mr. McClain but heard nothing of what he said. She couldn't quite put her finger on why; but she knew, somehow, that that man hidden by his hat was important.

/

Quigley walked back to his room dejectedly. He hadn't gotten to talk to Violet much; although, he had sat by her most of the evening, and he had also learned more about V.F.D. He now knew how the meetings were held and some of the volunteers who attended them. He had also learned how the V.F.D. had be prospering, so to speak. He had also learned a few other secrets; these and the other information that he had learned, he filed away in his memory for future use.

But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't lift his own spirits. He hadn't gotten to ask her the question he had been wanting to ask her for the last couple of days. He frowned when he remembered just how close he had been. He wasn't even sure how she would answer. He wasn't even sure how Violet felt about him. He felt he had a pretty good guess, but he would rather not leave it up to chance. Most of his thoughts nowadays centered around the dark haired beauty. And he had thought things were bad before. Now, not only did he think about how wonderful she always was, he also thought about how wonderful she always looked. She was always present in his thoughts even if he had been distracted by a map or his brother or sister or what not. She was always there in some way or another. Her deep eyes filled with a wisdom that many adults did not have; her hair, tied back in a ribbon or not, was always so glorious even when she hadn't even tried to fix it; her soft and somewhat small hands that worked so expertly on her most recent inventions; how her face scrunched cutely when she was concentrating; and how her jaw would clench and her mouth would twitch when she was angry (this, he was quite sure, he alone noticed). Oh and her luscious pink lips that stretched so elegantly when she smiled revealing her perfect white teeth. If he could only have one kiss… well, then he'd probably just want another one. It was like her laugh; once he had heard it the first time, he knew he had to hear it again. He could see her eyes closing as he leaned in closer and-

Thump.

"Ow." Quigley said rubbing his face. He had walked straight into his door. Maybe he was daydreaming a little too much.

'That's what you get for thinking those kinds of things.' he scolded himself as he opened the door and looked down the hall.

Why did she do this to him? Why didn't he just forget about her and focus on school or something? Why couldn't he just leave things be and move on? He didn't even know if she cared about him even the slightest bit in that way. Why couldn't he just go on without her and be done with all of this?

He chuckled to himself as he disappeared into his room. He knew why he couldn't do any of those things. Because he didn't want to.

A/N: Ok, so here it is as promised. I've been sick for the past few days so please excuse any mistakes you might find.

And Yume74, I hope I am forgiven for making you wait so long for the last chapter now that I have fulfilled your request. I worked on this all week, doing a little bit at a time when I had free time just to have it up before next week. I hope you are pleased with how this chapter turned out.

Thanks to all my readers and reviewers.