Delores' Story

by srassier

Dolores is one of the kids Reginald didn't get a hold of back in October, 1989. She accidentally follows Five into the future. It follows the two during the apocalypse and beyond, as a few new characters show up and we find that Dolores' Dad may be worse than Reginald (If that's possible). -Rated M for one or two scenes of violence and implied ickyness on the part of a bad guy.

Dolores' Story

Reginald Hargreeves was a man on a mission. He stormed into the hospital in NY like he owned the place. As he arrived at room 212, he pushed his way past reporters and gawkers trying to catch a glimpse of the babies born under mysterious circumstances earlier that week.

In the room he found a man sitting in a chair with his head in his hands. He was a big man with large, calloused hands, torn clothes, and a dirty baseball cap. He was a working-class stiff…Hargreeves figured this collection would be easy…and cheap.

"How much do you want for them?" He posed the question that he had been asking all week. The man looked up at the stranger with the monocle and over at the dual bassinet where his newborn daughters laid. Or were they his? He wasn't sure since his wife wasn't even pregnant when the babies suddenly came.
"I'm sorry, what?" was all he could manage.
"I've been offering 10,000 but for twins I could go as high as 15, for the pair."
"You want to buy my kids? Is that even legal?"
"Of course, I have the proper documentation for you to sign appointing me their legal guardian."
The man looked to the girls once again and tried to comprehend what this man was trying to say. "Why?"

Hargreeves didn't really have time for such nonsense, seeing as there were 43 mothers to visit and this was only his 10th stop. "You were not prepared for these children?" The man shook his head. "And your wife, she died during the birth?" A nod this time. "So, I am presuming that you do not have the means to take care of these children. I will take them off your hands and pay you handsomely, what is so difficult to understand?"

The man pondered his options as well as all that Hargreeves said. Suddenly he stood up and looked him in the eyes. "You're willing to pay me 15 grand?"
"Cash, as soon as the paperwork is signed."
A sly grin slowly appeared on the man's face. "No, I don't think I'll take that offer. You see, if you are willing to shell out that much money for them, you must know something I don't."
"Nonsense!"
"I think I'll keep my precious little jewels, thank you very much."

Hargreeves searched the man's face for any indication that he was bluffing for more money. When he found none, he turned on his heels and strolled confidently out the door, leaving the man to wonder if he had really made the best decision.

Thirteen years later

Dolores sat on her front stoop watching the day pass her by. She was only 13 but knew that she was missing a lot of things that made life great. She and her sister were home schooled so they knew no one their age, the only acquaintances that they had were the people who lived in the building, and those people got shooed away if they got too close to the girls so Dolores could only dream about friendship. She longed for someone to talk to outside of her house. Her father kept her and her sister, Melissa very close to him. The only reason she was even allowed out here right now was that he didn't know. He was out procuring another poker game most likely. She knew that if he caught her outside without permission, she'd get a good smack and probably no dinner, but to her it was worth it. She liked the fresh air and the people watching. She liked to sit out here and hope something exciting would happen.

Her thoughts were interrupted when suddenly a boy appeared. Quite literally, he appeared out of nowhere, as if he ripped a hole in the air and stepped through. Dolores was shocked to say the least and she looked around to see if she was the only one to notice. She seemed to be and looking back at the boy she knew that she had to know who he was. Just as she was about to stand and walk toward him, he got a determined look on his face and he balled up his fists. She didn't know how, but she knew he was going to do it again. Dolores wasn't a risk taker, but there was something about this boy, so she took a deep breath and jumped, leaving her body behind, she felt her spirit woosh to the sidewalk and into the young man's head. She sat as still as she could…and then they were gone.

They reappeared on the same street, but something was different. It was snowing now, and most of the shops surrounding her apartment building were closed or going out of business. She only had a moment to get her bearings before they leaped once again into the unknown.

This time there was nothing. Just the smell of ash. The boy looked around and through his eyes Dolores could only see fire and rubble. She could feel him panic, and she didn't blame him, she was starting to panic too. She tried to leave and go back to her body, but there was nowhere to go. He body was not here and there was nothing else to latch on to. She was stuck. The boy let out at a sprint back down the street the way he came and stopped in front of a burned down front gate. He tried desperately to go back, letting out a frustrated, "Come on!" as he tried in vain to travel back to where they came from. Finally admitting defeat, he began to take stock of his situation.

Introductions are in order

Dolores stayed quiet for almost a week. She didn't want to startle the boy and after he found his siblings in the rubble, she wanted to give him space to bury his family. One day she finally decided that it would be wrong to keep hiding and knew it was now or never. "Don't panic."

Five straightened up from the can of beans he was shoveling into his mouth. He knew Dad had said that time travel could mess with your mind and isolation sometimes made people go nuts, but he had only been here a week. He knew his options were ignoring it or going with it. Five was never one for ignoring problems. "Who is this?"
"My name is Dolores. I'm sorry to spring this on you, but I've been in your head since we got here."
"How?"
"I've always been able to do it. I can visit, but I can't take over…just observe, so don't worry about being possessed or anything."
"Gee, thanks." Dolores could feel him roll his eyes. "Ok, there's the how, you want to run the 'why' by me?"
"I saw you on the street. You just appeared out of nowhere. I was sitting outside my apartment and I wanted to know how you did it. I was only going to have a peek and then, well…"
"I accidently kidnapped you. Shit."

"This is all my fault. You didn't do anything."
Five stood up and began pacing. In the week they had been together, she knew this meant he was thinking…hard. "When were you born? The exact date?"
"Uh, October 1, 1989."
"Shit."
"You swear a lot."
"I think you're one of us. On October 1, 1989, there was a bunch of kids born to women who were not pregnant. My father tried to collect them all because he thought they would have powers. He got 7 of us. I think you could have been number 8."
"Shit."
Five smiled. "Now who has a potty mouth?"
She ignored the comment and went on, "What do we do now?"
Five took a deep breath and looked to the sky as if looking for something inspiring to say… "survive."

Finding Dolores

It had been nearly two weeks since Dolores had introduced herself to Five and to say they were getting along was an understatement. She had finally escaped her dreary home to find a person full of stories and jokes and Five had found something that he didn't think existed…another person nearly as smart as he was. He never felt like he had to talk down to her when explaining the science and math behind his spatial jumps, she understood a lot of it, and what she didn't, she figured out quickly.

Five's mind, however, was a bit crowded with Dolores taking up residence there and the teens had set out on a mission to find her a suitable "host." Dolores kept asking Five to stop calling it that, saying it sounded like something out of a bad horror movie. He just smirked and said, "Until we find something, I'm calling it a host."

One day, they were searching the rubble of a department store for anything useful and just as Five was throwing a winter coat into a wagon that he had found, Dolores cried out, "there!" Five looked down and found himself face to face with a mannequin, well, half a mannequin. She was missing her entire bottom half and one of her arms, but she had a simple smile on her face and Five tilted his head, "She's kind of pretty, you know, for a mannequin."
"Of course she is, I'm not just going to pick some dumpy old thing for my body. I want to be a classy lady."

Five tried to hide his trepidation, even though she knew what he was thinking from her perch inside his mind. "So, will we still be able to talk?" He felt a bit sheepish as he scuffed his foot across the ground, "because you could always stay here."
"Yes we can still talk. I can project my thoughts, too. It's easy when it's one on one, gets kind of tricky trying to project to more people than that, but I don't think we're going to run into that problem. You ready?"

Five nodded and suddenly he felt a little lightheaded. He never noticed how much fuller his brain felt having someone living up there, but now that she was gone it felt…lonely. "Did it work?" He spoke to the mannequin but received no response. "Dolores?" When he got nothing a second time, he knelt next to the dummy, reached out, and gave it a shake, a hint of panic in his voice. "Dolores!"
"Got you."
Five rolled his eyes and shook his head at her. "Not funny."
"I mean…kind of funny."
Five picked up his new companion and put her in the wagon. "We need to work on your sense of humor."

Dallas

"You ready?" Five looked over at his worn companion. She wasn't quite the beauty that she once was, with the years and the elements wearing away at the features that were carved out of plastic in a factory once upon a time. That didn't matter to Five, as when he looked at her, he only saw the inner beauty of someone he had grown to love and respect over a lifetime together.

"As I'll ever be." Dolores said as Five shoved his book back into his pocket and took a few steps away from the fence they were currently using as cover. "Are you sure about the equations? Something still seems off, I just can't quite put my finger on it."
Five smirked, it was one of the things still recognizable from his youth some 45 years ago. That and the dimple, Dolores did love that dimple. "Honey, you can't put your finger on anything. You lost those years ago."
"Man, those mannequin jokes do not get old do they?"
Five chuckled and took a deep breath. "It's now or never."
Dolores said a silent goodbye to her synthetic body and jumped into the crazy mind that started all of this. "I'm here, let's go."

Five started to open the rift. He knew this would be difficult and he had been preparing his body for the strain of it but now that it was happening, it almost seemed like too much. He knew that he couldn't give up and as the rift grew wider, he began to shake as something flew past them. Dolores thought for a moment that if she didn't know any better, she would have said it was a fire extinguisher. She brushed it off and tried to help Five focus. When the hole was finally big enough, Five started to yell and then they suddenly fell through onto the ground a few feet below.

Five slowly stood up and brushed himself off as a group of people walked toward him. Dolores recognized them from their first days in the apocalypse. They were Five's siblings, and they looked just as they did when Five buried them. They had done it, they were home. Dolores' thoughts were interrupted by one of the men speaking to the others. "Does anyone else see little number Five, or is that just me?"

Five and Dolores looked down at Five's body to see that the suit he was wearing was now far too big as he had reverted to his 13-year-old self. They uttered in unison, "shit."

Finding Dolores...again

"You sure about this?" Five peered through a window into a darkened department store. "We have a lot more options now. We should go find your body."
"No, you need to focus. You can't do that with me taking up space here. We need something quick just until you and your family can stop this thing." Five cupped his hands around his eyes and took another look into the store as Dolores continued, "She's familiar, she's home."

With that, Five blipped into the store. He grabbed a flashlight from a display and turned it on. They strolled through the store searching until they turned a corner and the light hit a group of mannequins at the end of the aisle. Dolores jumped back into her old body and whispered to Five, "hello, gorgeous."
Five smiled, "Dolores."

The reunion was cut short when Dolores heard gunshots and felt herself falling to the floor as she heard Five scream, "NO!" He grabbed her and pulled her into a neighboring aisle. He cradled her head in one hand and placed his other hand on the side of her face as he lay her down on the floor. "I'll be right back for you."

Dolores sat in frightened silence as she heard the fight between the three killers. She strained to hear as she knew when Five was ready it would be time to go and she couldn't risk leaving her body. She didn't have to wait long before Five appeared next to her holding a large duffle bag. "Good thinking, babe, we're going to move a lot faster if I have handles." Five quickly and carefully put Dolores in the bag and tried to jump. She was worried that during his fight he jumped too many times. It put a toll on his body, and he needed to recharge. Five looked down at her in the bag and said, "Do you trust me?"

"Always." It was all Five needed. He made a run for it and jumped over a display case under a hail of gunfire. They landed on the other side and heard sirens in the distance quickly getting closer. From their spot on the floor, they heard Hazel say, "Little bastard jumped again." And "Let's get out of here." After giving the assassins enough time to leave, Five left through a back door and ran down the alley toward the mansion.

Meeting the Family

Five's siblings all sat at one end of their long kitchen table. It had been a week since the apocalypse was averted. Dolores thought that they were all dealing with enough shit that they didn't exactly need this to add to the pile but Five insisted on this little family meeting. Dolores reminded him that they had to deal with Vanya and Klaus' new powers, rebuilding the mansion, Diego's court appearances to clear his name, and Luther and Allison's…whatever. He just told her that their family was always dealing with shit and if they waited until things calmed down it would be another 50 years before they finally met Dolores.

"So," Diego was the first to speak, "She's, what? Your wife?"
"Well, no. NY has no common law marriage statutes." He ignored the glances his siblings gave each other. "But we've been together for nearly 50 years and sometimes we do argue like a married couple…"
Allison frantically scribbled on her note pad and turned it toward Five. 'Mannequin?'
"Right, that's what I need your help with. We need to find Dolores' body so we can get everything back to normal." He looked at Dolores and responded to a comment that his siblings did not hear, "Yes, I know that's a possibility, and I know that wouldn't be normal, but we'll deal with that when we get there."

The siblings just gave each other the same confused looks before Luther spoke up, "Look Five, we've all been meaning to talk to you about this. It's…not healthy."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"You just told us you're dating a mannequin."
"Yeah, I thought with her living here, it would be rude to not introduce her."
Klaus leaned toward Ben and whispered, "do you think they have sex?"
Five snapped at him, "that's none of your business."

"ENOUGH!" The entire room became silent as each of them heard the voice echoing in their heads. Dolores continued. "My name is Dolores; I am very real, and I am very much in need of some help finding my body. If you can all shut up for a moment so Five can explain, we can get this weirdness over with and get back to what we might actually call normal."

The voice stopped and Five immediately put his arm around Dolores, leaning in to ask, "Are you ok? I know that took a lot out of you. No, nobody's mad at you. We can finish this later; you need to rest."

The other side of the table was full of open mouths and blinking eyes. Vanya was the first to move. She stood up, walked over to Dolores and spoke, "Welcome to the family."

Missing

Five woke up the following morning to the sound of someone pacing back and forth outside his door. He turned to his side and said sleepily, "Can't get a moments peace around here sometimes." The familiar face he was expecting to be there was not. "Dolores?" Five peered over the edge of the bed, thinking that he had kicked her out accidently in the night. When she wasn't there he began to panic. "Dolores!" He jumped out of bed and ran to the door; someone took her, and that person was going to catch hell.

Five opened the door to find Klaus was the one pacing. "Hey bro, sleep well?"
"Not now, Dolores is gone. Someone thinks they are playing a funny joke, but it won't be so funny when my foot's up their ass."
Klaus grabbed his brother by the shoulders but quickly released when he saw the look in Five's eyes. "Calm down, no one took her."

Five squinted his eyes and tried to stay calm. He could kill him after he got his information. "Where is she?"
"Um," Klaus looked up to the ceiling, then to a painting on the wall, anything to avoid Five's glare. "I'm not sure, but she promised me she'd be back."

Five grabbed Klaus' shirt and pulled him so close that Klaus could feel his breath. "This is not a joke. There is a real person in there. You can't just play hide and seek with her to annoy me."
"No, no, no, you don't understand. I know where we went this morning but then she took off and now I'm not sure."
"What the hell are you talking about? She can't walk." Five released Klaus' shirt and stepped back, "Are you high?"
"No, I am sober as a bird! Your little plastic Juliet called out to me this morning as I was walking past your room. I think it's adorable that despite your size, you're still the big spoon, by the way."
"Klaus."
"Sorry. So, I tiptoed in and she asked me to take her somewhere. Who was I to deny my future sister-in-law?"
"Where is she now?"
"Well, the mannequin is in the kitchen but…" Klaus didn't even finish his sentence and Five was gone in a blue blip. "Damn it!" Klaus took off at a run down the stairs.

He walked into the room to find Five holding the plastic frame and trying to speak to her, "Dolores? Dolores!"
"Like I was saying, her body is here, she is…not."
Five put the dummy down and slowly walked over to Klaus, picking a knife up off the table as he approached. "If you value your fingers, I'd start talking."

"Ok, ok. Geeze." Klaus put a finger on the end of the knife and slowly pushed it so it was pointing away from him. "Like I said, she asked me to take her somewhere. I picked up her body and we came downstairs. I asked if she wanted to change first and she said 'no, if its ok, I'll just ride in your head.' I thought, ooh, that's one I haven't tried yet so of course I was game. She popped into my head, which is a freaky feeling, by the way, and we headed off."
"Where did you go?"
"Not far actually, an apartment building a few blocks away. She said she used to live there and wanted to see if her family was still there. They weren't, so I told her we could head back and figure out where they went after breakfast. I was quite hungry, and Mom was going to make waffles, so…"
"Klaus, focus."
"Right. She said that she can't come back with me, she had to go find her body and that she didn't want us to help because it would be too dangerous."
Five sat down in the chair next to him, "She just left?"
"Yeah, after that there was no one left in my head except me."
"And you let her?"
"Well, it's not like I could grab on to her soul and drag it back here."

Five sat sullenly in his chair for a moment thinking about what to do. He was a problem solver, but this problem he may not be able to solve. Jumping from mind to mind, Dolores could be halfway across the country by now. He had no way to find her, but he did know someone he could find…. her father.

Finding Dolores part 3 AKA Why do we keep losing her?

Dolores was exhausted. She had spent the better part of the past few days jumping from head to head throughout the city, hoping that someone, anyone would have information about her family. With each jump she not only got more tired, but she became increasingly frustrated. What if she never found her body? Is this the way she'll spent the next 50 years? She told herself that she would complete the day and then start making her way back to the Umbrella Academy. If she was going to live this life, at least she could live it with Five.

She jumped into the head of a slim, red haired woman walking hurriedly down the street narrowly avoiding passersby due to the fact that she had her eyes on the ground as if she was trying to avoid all eye contact. She took her look around and settled on the woman's name. Dolores could not believe it. It couldn't be. Just as she was trying to wrap her head around where she was, the woman spoke, "Dolores?"
"Melissa?" Dolores and Five had read that twins sometimes seemed to have a psychic connection, but she never thought it was actually possible. Being here, and her sister knowing she was there without revealing herself convinced Dolores that it was.

"Where have you been?"
"It's kind of a long story. I've been looking for you…and my body. I'm hoping it's still around. Five has a theory that it must be, because I'm still around, and if my body expired I would too."
"Five?"
"Do you know where it is?"
Melissa ducked down an alleyway and spoke carefully. "I do, but you're not going to want to go there."
"The hell I don't. You take me there right now and, on the way, I'll tell you all about the hell I've been living." She sensed a tenseness in her sister's head, "and you can tell me about yours."

As Melissa walked to her car, Dolores told her sister everything. How she jumped into Five and the apocalypse, becoming a mannequin, falling in love, getting home and her past few days trying to find her body. Melissa also told a story. It was not what Dolores was expecting and it broke her heart. After she left, their father was furious. He used his massive poker winnings to move them to the country. In the basement he built a secure facility and hired a doctor. He kept Dolores' body alive knowing that she would eventually be back for it. Over the years the doctor and their father had become increasingly mad, testing Melissa's abilities and finding ways of suppressing said abilities.

"They built a chamber. I don't know how it works but when you're in there, your abilities don't work." Melissa explained as she pulled the car over to the side of a deserted country road. "He put me in there with my dog. He stabbed him and left. I couldn't heal him, I had to watch him die." Melissa choked back tears. "He's a monster."
"Why didn't you leave? You have a car, just go!"
"I wasn't going to leave you."

Dolores knew if she had a body she'd be crying. All these years and her sister stuck it out with their horrible father just so she wouldn't be left alone. Changing the subject seemed in order. "Where are we?"
Melissa pointed toward a dirt driveway, "home." She put the car back into drive and headed down the path. At the end of the road was an innocent looking farmhouse. She parked the car and got out. "Ok, your body is in the chamber. He moved it so you couldn't just jump in and steal it." You'll have to stay with me until we can figure a way to get you out."

As Melissa reached the front door, it opened from the inside. There stood their father. He was just an older version of what Dolores remembered. She felt a tinge of fear which was almost funny in a weird way. The last 45 years she had made it through hell, and the man she lived her life with had done horrible things for his job and she witnessed a great many of them, but seeing her father again actually made her feel small and frightened for the first time in years.

The Lab

"What the hell took you so long?" he barked at Melissa as she walked into the house, shoulders scrunched, and head hung low.
"There was a line at the pharmacy."
He looked her up and down and snapped, "well, you better get your ass down there, the Doc's waiting."

Melissa shuffled down a long hallway to a door in the back of the house. Opening it, Dolores saw a staircase that lead into a dark basement. "You don't have to talk," she told her sister, "you can just think, and I'll hear you."

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Melissa turned on a light switch and to Dolores' surprise, it was just a regular old basement. No torture devices or dead bodies, just some shelves with canned goods and old paint cans. "Well, this isn't too bad."
"We're not there yet." Melissa walked to the other side of the room and pushed on one of the bricks and a door popped open. She walked in and they found themselves in what looked like a simple hospital room. There were shelves on the walls with various first aid supplies and medicine, a bench in the back with beakers and chemicals on it, and in the middle of the room was a hospital bed. Dolores gasped when she saw what was on it. Lying on the bed hooked up to an IV was a woman who looked exactly like Melissa. "You ok?" Melissa thought.
"Yeah, it's just been so long, I guess I blocked out of my memory that we were identical. What a weird thing to forget."

A man wearing a lab coat came out of a second room and greeted Melissa with a slimy politeness. "Ah, there's my favorite nurse. Did you get what I asked?"
"Yes Doctor." She handed him the prescription bag and he took the vile out.

Dolores tried to read the label but couldn't get a good angle. "What is that?"
"Don't worry, it's something to keep you asleep. We don't know what would happen if your body woke up without you, the doctor thinks you could die." The women watched as the doctor administered the fluid into the IV. "It's the only thing he's good for. He's actually keeping your body healthy…when he's not creeping me out." As if on cue, the doctor walked over to her and made a show of sniffing her hair, "Melissa, what is that enchanting aroma?"
"Um, Head and Shoulders."
"Well, whatever you are doing, keep doing it." He took a lock of her hair and let it run through his fingers, "it really brings out the red" he walked over to Dolores' unconscious body and stroked her hair. "You know how much I love red heads."
Dolores wished she could reach out and choke this guy. "I really can't wait for this creep to meet my boyfriend."

The doctor motioned for Melissa to come over. "She has a bit of a fever; I'll need you to fix it."
"Yes doctor."
Dolores grew concerned. "I thought your powers didn't work here."
"He can turn the room off. There's a panel by the wall, it's handprint protected so I can't do it, but he turns it off when I need to help you."
"I have a plan, but we don't have much time, you'll have to do exactly as I say and don't question it."
Melissa looked over at the doctor fussing around with some papers on the desk. "Ok, what do I do?"
"When he turns the power off, I'm going to jump into my body. I've been laying there for a few years so I won't be able to get up, but I can become the eyes and ears into this room."
"What then? I can't just leave you here."
"You'll have to. I'm going to need to get my strength up for when I can get out of here. I don't see any cameras, is that right?"
"Yeah, dad didn't want any evidence of what goes on down here."
"Good. After I'm out of your head, find an excuse to go back into the city. Go to that big mansion down the road from our old apartment. Find Number Five. Tell him everything."
"Number Five of what?"
"No, that's his name. Trust only Five, he'll know what to do."

The doctor stood and walked over to the panel. "You ready, you've got 1 minute."
"Yes sir." The doctor put his palm to the pad and the lights in the room flickered. When they came back up, Melissa put her hand on Dolores' forehead and closed her eyes. Dolores jumped back into her body and immediately felt the fever the doctor was talking about. After a few seconds, it started to subside. "Thanks, sis. Feels much better."

Melissa took her hand away and the doctor placed his palm once again on the panel and the lights flickered again. Dolores tested the power of the room and tried to jump…nothing. She sighed and reserved herself to being trapped in this body until the medication wore off and she could start moving again.

Finding Five

The Hargreeves siblings were sitting around the kitchen table sullenly staring at the meal that Klaus had prepared for them. Allison poked at the chicken with her fork as Diego stared at a piece of broccoli that had been sitting on the edge of his fork for some time. Klaus had become quite the excellent cook since becoming sober, but no one was in the mood to eat while one of their own wouldn't.

Luther spoke first. "Maybe we should bring him some."
"Tried that," Diego let the broccoli drop onto the plate, "he won't eat, and we'll just have to pick up the food later after it's gone bad."
"What the hell is he doing up there?"
"Waiting. He says he can't leave the house in case she comes back."
Vanya surveyed the worried looks of her siblings, "I'll make him a peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich later, maybe he'll eat that."

They all went back to eating in silence when there was a knock at the door. "Who the hell could that be?" Luther got up from his chair and headed out into the foyer. He opened the door to find a red head about his age staring up at him. "Can I help you?"
"I'm looking for Number Five."
"He's…" Luther looked back at his family who were converging behind him to see who their unexpected visitor was. "…not available right now."
"Can I wait?" Luther couldn't help but notice the woman nervously ringing her hands. "I really need to speak to him."
"He's probably going to be unavailable for a while. I'm his brother, is there something I can help you with?"
She looked at him and the crowd behind him and remembered what Dolores had said. "I'm sorry, I really need Five. He's the only one I'm supposed to trust."
Diego stepped up next to Luther. "What do you mean, 'supposed to trust?'"
She shook her head, "I'm sorry, I should go. Can you tell me when Five will be back?"

"Who's at the door?" Everyone in the foyer looked toward the stairs to see Five slowly walking down them. "Must be someone good if you all had to answer it."
Melissa remembered what Dolores had told her about Five. The time travel had made him look like a kid again. "Number Five?"
"Yes. Who are you?"
"My name is Melissa. Dolores sent me."

For the next half hour, Melissa told them everything, about their abilities as kids, their abusive father, the house and the lab, the creep doctor and how Dolores was now stuck there in her body, waiting for them to come get her. "She said you'd know what to do."

Five paced back and forth the entire time, not speaking, just listening. He processed every word and with each bit of new information his plan grew. As she spoke, he worked out how to get into the house, what to do about the room where their powers wouldn't work, and most importantly, how he was going to kill that doctor…slowly and painfully.

When she finished, he paced for another minute before stopping and turning to his family. "I have a plan and it will involve all of you so listen up and do as I say."

Luther stood up, "Don't forget, Five, I'm the leader here."
Five walked over to him and squared himself best he could next to Luther's hulking frame. "Now's not the time for your 'leader' bull shit. The woman I love is in danger and I'll go get her alone if I have to."
Luther looked down on his brother and saw that he wasn't going to back down. "Ok, what do we do?"

Five looked at Melissa. "First," he pointed a finger at Allison. "She's going to need her voice back."

The Plan

Having dropped off Luther and Diego at the final bend of the driveway as to not be seen, Five, Allison, and Klaus finished driving up the path to the old farmhouse. They got out of the car and walked up to the door and Five reached out and rang the bell.

Dolores' father opened the door to find a well-dressed couple and a boy in a school uniform standing before him holding a tin of popcorn. "Good afternoon sir." Five smiled his cheesiest smile. "My name is Edward and I am selling popcorn for a school fundraiser; it goes to our drama department and I was wondering if you would be interested in purchasing some today." He ended on another smile, this one bigger than the last. Klaus put his hands-on Five's shoulders and grinned. "We are so proud of our young man here. He's the top of his class in sales. We were cruising through the country and saw your driveway and thought…they would probably LOVE some popcorn, didn't we babe?" Allison gave her sweetest smile and nodded.

"Um, no." The man answered. "I'm not interested."
Five piped up as the man started to close the door. "Is there anyone else at home? I'm sure someone here likes popcorn."
"No. Get the hell off my property." He slammed the door and Five saw Luther sneak around to the back of the house out of the corner of his eye. He looked at Klaus, "Go." Klaus took off at run to catch up with Luther and Five disappeared in a flash of blue light. He reappeared on the other side of the door, startling the man.

"What the…?" He couldn't finish as Five stepped in and punched him in the throat, knocking the wind out of him. Five turned and unlocked the door, allowing Allison to enter as he turned back to the man, now crumpled on the floor, holding his neck. "Dolores…where is she?"

The man coughed and sputtered, "Go to hell." Five looked to his sister and she leaned down to whisper in the man's ear. "I heard a rumor, that you told us where Dolores was." The man, as if in a trance, stood up and lead them to the dark staircase. When they reached the basement, Five whispered to Allison. "Remember, when we get in the room, our powers won't work. We need to wait for the flicker of the lights telling us that the others cut the power to the room before we act. Until then, it's just us." She nodded and the man opened the false wall leading into the chamber.

Five and Allison followed and found the doctor fussing with Dolores. When he saw the others following the man, he quickly pulled the sheet back up to her neck, before she was completely covered, Five noticed that the top buttons of her pajamas were undone. His face turned read with anger and he tried to wait patiently for the flicker of the lights.

He was so preoccupied with staring daggers at the doctor that he didn't see the man reach for the desk and pull out a gun. He aimed it at the two of them and finally spoke. "Before I kill you, who the fuck are you?"
Five looked at him and gave out a small chuckle. "I guess you could say I'm kind of your son-in-law."
The man got a confused look on his face, "what?"
"It doesn't really matter who we are anyway. You both will be dead in a minute. Yours will be quick." He looked to the doctor. "Yours…is gonna hurt."

"I know you." The doctor walked around to the side table by the gurney. "You were those kids…the Umbrella Academy." Five surveyed the room and saw his weapons of choice, a scalpel and a pen sitting right next to each other on the bedside table. "Yeah, I remember seeing you on tv. Bunch of freaks…just like my girlfriend here." Five tensed up and balled his fists waiting for his moment. "Oh I'm sorry, are you two an item? Gee, she didn't say a thing." He grinned as he looked to Allison and back to Five. "What are you gonna do?"

Five never took his eyes off the doctor and he spoke clearly and methodically. "I'm going to come over there, pick up that scalpel and that pen. I'm going to throw the scalpel at dear old dad over there and my sister is going to rush him to grab the gun in case I don't kill him on the first try." Five's mouth turned up into a sinister smile. "I've never really been a knife guy, that's my brother's territory. Then, I'm going to take that pen and stab you underneath your arm, piercing your artery. It won't kill you, but the pen will be the only thing keeping you alive. As long as the pen is there, you'll live…but I'll have control over that. Then when I get bored watching you squirm; I pull the pen and watch you bleed out."
The doctor took in a shaky breath, "you think you can do all that before he shoots you? You think you're faster than a bullet, kid?"

Just then, the lights flickered. Five disappeared in a flash of blue and Allison took off at a sprint toward the man. Five reappeared next to the table and scooped up the scalpel with one hand and the pen in the other. He shot the scalpel as hard as he could at the man and it hit him in the side of the neck just as Allison was reaching him and she kicked the gun out of his hands. Five turned toward the doctor and as the other man was reaching up to defend himself Five struck him right under his arm. They both froze. The doctor looked into Five's eyes and saw nothing but raw anger. Five in turn, saw fear. He held steady on the pen and never took his eyes off the doctor as he spoke. "Allison?"
"He's alive, disarmed and in a lot of pain, but alive."
"Damn." Five shook his head slightly. "I was hoping for two kills, but I'll take one dead and one arrested."

The doctor's voice was shaky as he had tears in his eyes. "You have to get me an ambulance. You can't…you can't…" Five tore the pen out of his arm and the doctor grabbed onto the young man's shoulders as a stream of blood poured out from under his arm. As he lowered him to the ground, Five whispered into his ear, "That's for Dolores." And the doctor dropped to the floor, dead.

"Jesus." Luther said as the others reached the door of the chamber.
Klaus surveyed the carnage, "Remind me to never piss Five off."

"Can someone help me up please?" Five looked up to the bed to see Dolores grasping for the IV, trying to get it out of her arm. He stood up and ran to her, cupping her face in his hands. "Well," she gave him a weary smile. "You finally get to see what I look like, hope you're not disappointed."
Five smiled with tears welling up in his eyes, "You're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." He leaned forward and kissed her tenderly before she reached her hand up to grasp the back of his head and kissed back…hard.

Luther's eyes got wide at the sight of a 30-year-old woman making out with a 13-year-old boy and leaned over to Diego and whispered, "That's a bit weird, right?"
"Damn," Klaus smirked, "They are really going for it!"

Happily ever after...once we fix this one thing.

Dolores leaned on Five as the weary crew walked through the front door of the mansion. Vanya and Melissa came out from the sitting room and Melissa ran to her sister. "Dolores!" Five stepped aside as the two women embraced. When she took a step back, Dolores smiled, "You act like you didn't think I would make it."
"Never crossed my mind." Melissa looked over at Five. "You've got quite the, um…man there."

The others tried to stifle chuckles, all except Klaus who let out a full laugh. "Yeah, I've been meaning to talk to you about that." He stepped in between Dolores and Five and put his arms around them. "I mean, I'm all for young love, but if you two don't set some boundaries, someone's going to jail."

Dolores' face turned nearly as red as her hair as Klaus stepped back expecting the wrath of his brother. Instead, Five just scrunched up his brow in thought. "I've actually been thinking about that." He turned to face Melissa. "I think maybe you can help."
"Me?"
"Yes. Your powers. How do they work?"
"Um, well…" She glanced around the room and saw all eyes on her. "I can focus my energy on cells and help them regenerate. I can't create out of thin air, like a missing limb or something like that. But if all the pieces are there, I can fix them."
"You ever try it on something that wasn't broken?"
"Why would I do that?"
"Say you had a plant. If it was perfectly healthy, but you just didn't want to wait for it to bloom naturally…could you focus your energy on its cells and make it grow?"

"Five." Dolores broke in. "No."
"Why not? It makes sense scientifically. If she grows my cells and they aren't damaged…theoretically, I should physically age."
Melissa spoke with doubt in her voice. "I don't know. I heal broken bones and cuts…I don't know how much energy it would take to age you, what, 17 years?"

"Five," Luther stepped in, "this is crazy."
"What's crazy? That I've spent a lifetime wishing that the woman I love was flesh and blood and now that she is, we can't go out of the house without people assuming she's my mother? How about the fact that I can't hold her hand in public? Take her dancing? Propose in her favorite spot? Is that all crazy? How about this one? Dolores can't look at me without seeing a 13-year-old boy. How would you like it if the person you loved couldn't even put her hands on you without freaking out?"

Luther didn't respond. He just stepped back as Dolores moved right next to Five and put her hands on his shoulders. "Propose in my favorite spot, huh?"
Now it was Five's turn to have his cheeks flush with the realization that he was rambling in front of a crowd. "You know…for example."

Dolores looked at her sister, "Can you do it?"
Melissa looked at the others trying to see if she was the only sane one. Based on their looks of anticipation, she was. "Theoretically…yes."
"Do it." She looked back at Five and crooked one eyebrow up, "but I swear, if you die on me…"
"I know." Five stood on his toes to plant a quick kiss on her lips. "You'll kill me."

Five climbed up onto the medical table as Melissa gave out instructions. "Ok, you sit as still as you can. I have to have complete concentration and you moving around is not going to help." She looked at the others. "The rest of you, your job is to keep Dolores out of this room…no matter what you hear."
Diego shot a glance at Five. "What are we going to hear?"

Melissa hesitated so Five answered for her. "I imaging she's referring to the fact that I'm about to go through about 4 or 5 years of growing pains in a very short period of time." Melissa nodded. "I'm guessing that's going to hurt a bit. I can't guarantee I won't scream or cry or who knows what else."
Dolores walked over to the table. "Maybe this isn't a good idea. It's only a few years."

Five took her hand in his and leaned close so his siblings couldn't hear, "A few years of me being a teenage boy having to look at you every day and not being able to do anything…it's going to be torture." Dolores smiled and leaned down to give him a kiss on the cheek before turning around and leaving. The rest of the siblings followed her. As soon as the door was shut, Melissa walked over and locked it. "You ready?"
"As I'll ever be."

They all sat in the living room in silence. Even Klaus couldn't think of something to break the tension. The Hargreeves' kept stealing looks at Dolores checking in on how she was doing. She seemed to be doing fine until they heard Five scream out in pain from the room down the hall. Dolores tried to stand up and Luther and Diego, sitting on either side of her, pushed her back down into the seat. She looked at them, and realizing that she was going nowhere, knew she had to wait it out.

It seemed like hours listening to the torture going on in the other room when suddenly, everything went quiet. Dolores stood up, Luther and Diego following suit. The door to the clinic opened and Melissa staggered out, clearly drained of most of her energy. Allison ran over to her to help her stand. "Is he ok?"
"He's ok, but…"
"But what?" Dolores was cautiously approaching.
"I couldn't get him to 30. I ran out of juice."

Dolores ran into the room and gasped, the rest followed and saw Five laying on the gurney. He was nearly a foot taller and no longer resembled a 13-year-old boy. Dolores figured more like 19. She walked over to him and put her hand on his cheek. He opened his eyes and asked, "did it work?"
Klaus piped in from the back, "Hell yeah it did…Five's kind of hot!"

Dolores rolled her eyes, causing Five to chuckle. He put his hand on his ribs and groaned. "Don't make me laugh."
"Sorry."
"How old do I look?"
"I'd say 19 maybe?"
Five sighed and his eyes welled up with tears. "I'm sorry. I can't do that again."
"Are you kidding?" Dolores smiled, "I'm not turning down the chance to have my man rocking a 19-year-old body." She leaned in and kissed him deeply.

Klaus for the first time in his life decided to be the voice of reason. "Ok everyone, show's over," he began herding everyone out of the room to give the couple some privacy. "Nothing to see here."
Luther was the last one out and he turned to close the door, seeing his brother who was 13 less than an hour ago, now 19…kissing his girlfriend of 45 years who is 30. He shook his head as the door latched. "This family is so weird."

The End