Kat and Diego were on their way to the Academy after recieving a phone call from Allison talking about needing them there for a family meeting.
"I dunno, Diego, Alli sounded really upset. And she said it was about mom. I'm worried." Kat said as they pulled to a stop.
"I know, babe. Let's just go and see what all the fuss is about. You know Allison, she's always been overdramatic." He said, trying to reassure both of them.
Kat nodded and got out of the car, making her way in the house.
A few minutes later, the Hargreeves family sat in the living area in deep discussion.
"I mean, do you really think Mom would hurt Dad?" Vanya asked skeptically.
"You haven't been home in a long time, Vanya. Maybe you don't know Grace anymore." Luther countered.
"You can't say much, you've been gone for four years, Luther. Besides, if he was poisoned, it would have shown in the coroner's report." Kat reasoned.
"Well, I don't need a report to tell me what I can see with my own eyes." He snapped.
"Maybe all that low gravity in space messed with your vision. And your self preservation instinct, since you suddenly think it's okay to talk to her like that." Diego snarled.
Luther ignored his brother and brought up the video clip. "Look closer. Dad has his monocle. Mom stands up."
"Monocle's gone."
"Oh, yeah!" Klaus said, finally seeing it.
"She wasn't poisoning him. She was taking it. To clean it."
Luther turned to look at his siblings. "Then where is it? No, I've searched the house, including her things. She doesn't have it."
"She doesn't have it." Kat confirmed, looking to Diego and nodding for him to tell them.
"That's because I took it from her. After the funeral." He divulged.
"You've had the monocle this whole time?" Luther pressed.
"What the hell, Diego?" Allison finally spoke up.
"Give it to me."
"I threw it away." Diego said with a shrug.
"You what?"
"Look, I knew that if you found it on Mom, you'd lose your shit, just like you're doing right now."
"Diego, you son of a bitch." Luther growled, stalking towards Diego.
Vanya stood, just at Kat took a defensive stance in front of Diego.
"Hey. No. Calm down." Vanya said, rather panicked. "Look, I know Dad wasn't exactly an open book. But I do remember one thing he said. Mom was, well, designed to be a caretaker, but also as a protector."
"What does that mean?" Diego inquired.
"She was programmed to intervene if someone's life was in jeopardy."
"Well, if her hardware is degrading, then - We need to turn her off." Luther said, causing half of the room to tense up.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. She's not just a vacuum cleaner you can throw in a closet. She feels things, I've seen it!" Diego argued.
"She just stood there, Diego, and watched our father die."
"I'm with Luther." Allison said quietly.
"Surprise, surprise." Diego, scoffed as he took Kat's hand, ignoring the small sparks of energy she was emitting.
"Shut up."
"I agree with Diego. We can't just toss Mom to the wayside like she's scrap. I mean, she took care of us for almost our entire lives. I don't understand how you can even suggest shutting her down." Kat said, her chest hurting at the mere thought.
Diego squeezed her hand, then looked at Vanya expectantly.
"I-I don't -" the girl stuttered.
"Yeah, she shouldn't get a vote." Diego said, scoffing.
"Wh - I was gonna say that I agree with you guys." She said.
"Okay. She should get a vote."
Kat looked up at her most eccentric sibling and spoke softly. "What about you, Klaus? What do you say?"
"Oh, so, what? You need my help now? Oh, "Get out of the van, Klaus!" "Well, welcome back to the van."." He said, looking at Luther.
Kat looked at him and mouthed "van?".
"What's it gonna be, Klaus?" Lither pressed.
"I'm with Diego, because screw you! And if Ben were here, he'd agree with me." Klaus yelled.
"So that's four?" Diego counted. "To two."
"Vote's not final yet." Allison said.
"It won't change anything, Alli. Even if Five sided with you, it would still be a majority to no." Kat reminded her sister.
"We should still wait."
Everyone dispersed and Kat gasped as she and Diego turned to see Grace standing beside a column, looking rather void of expression.
"Hey. How long you been here?" Diego asked, approaching her.
"You all seem upset. I'll make cookies." She said with a smile, walking away.
"Do you ever wonder All those moments with Mom, the things she said. Like, was it her, or was it really Dad?" Vanya asked as their mom walked away.
"What are you talking about?" Diego grumbled.
"Well, he built her. And he programmed her to be a mom, to be our mom. Sometimes when I look at her, I just see him."
"Maybe that was true at first. But she evolved." Kat said, shaking her head.
"Well, how do you know?"
"Because Dad only loved himself." Diego said, walking away with Kat in his arms.
FLASHBACK
Alarms blared loudly through the house, and the children were all scrambling to make sure they were ready.
"Coming through! Come on, Luther!" Young Allison called.
"How will the Umbrella Academy ever become an effective crime deterrent if we can't even leave the house on time for missions?" Reginald called out.
"Behind you!" Luther called, runnong behind the old man.
"Come along, children! Come along!"
Allison dug through her drawers frantically searching for something. "I can't find my domino mask."
Grace walked in calmly and handed it to her. "It needed a little bit of TLC after the last mission."
"Thanks, Mom."
"Where's my knives?" Diego yelled.
"Mom and I put them in the case under your bed. You left them in the training room yesterday!" Kat called out.
"Sounds beautiful, Vanya." Grace said kindly as she passed Vanya's room, where the girl stood playing violin.
"Thanks, Mom." The girl said with a smile.
"Oh! Klaus!" Grace exclaimed, seeing Klaus jumping on his bed as a small fire blazed in his drawer. She put it out and looked at him, shaking her head.
"Thank you, Mother." He said, jumping down.
"Boys will be boys." She said, walking out as another one of the children approached her. "Oh, Ben."
"It- It's stuck." He said in frustration. Grace easily zipped, and he ran off. "Guys, wait for me."
Kat and Diego stood in front of his mirror, holding hands and trying to focus on Diego's speech.
"Come on, Diego. You can do it. Just concentrate." She said positively.
"D-Don't mmm. Don't mm mm mm. Don't muh muh." He groaned in irritation.
"Remember, Diego, just picture the word in your mind." Grace said, walking in.
Kat and Diego automatically released each other's hands and looked at her. Kat blushed bright red, but Grace simply winked at her and smiled.
Diego sighed and nodded. "D-Don't mm muh D-Don't mmm Don't mo-move."
Grace beamed at him excitedly. "You did it! I'm so proud of you!"
Reginald cleared his throat from the doorway and the two children quickly made their way to the car with the others.
END FLASHBACK
It was later that night when Diego decided to go talk to Grace and see just what was going on. Kat went with him out of morbid curiosity. Grace was humming quietly, working on a crafting project when they approached her.
"Mom, we need to talk." Diego said gently.
"Okay. But only for a minute. I need to finish this cross-stitch." She informed him.
"Everything you did for us when we were kids for me why'd you do it?"
"Because being your mother is the greatest gift of my life."
"Is that you saying that?"
"I'm not sure what you mean, Diego."
"I mean, our father, he made you. When you think something, is it like he's telling you what to say?"
"Your father isn't here, silly." She looked at the two infront of her and saw their concerned expressions. "Did I do something wrong?"
"No, it's it's not...Look,mom. It's okay if you hated him. He was terrible to you." Kat assured her.
"To all of us." Diego agreed.
"Don't say that." Grace chided.
"Why not? We were just tools in an experiment to him. Nothing more. So I'm saying, I would understand if you know, if if you wanted to hurt him."
"Now, now. Mr. Hargreeves was a great man. Industrialist, inventor, Olympic gold medalist. He made the world a better place." Grace recited like it was a script.
"Stop it! Do you hear me? Stop trying to defend him!" Diego yelled, grabbing her roughly.
"Diego!" Katherine exclaimed, pulling him away.
"Mom, you gotta feel something. Look, he treated you worse than anyone. You worked for him for 30 years. He didn't even give you a room to sleep in."
"But I've got such beautiful views here." Grace said, her voice distant.
"Mom, those are just paintings." Kat whispered, her eyes teary.
"Of course they are." She looked at one painting in particular and sighed. "What a wonderful world she lives in. Sometimes I wonder if she's lonely."
Diego and Kat exchanged teary glances and decided it was best at the moment to just walk away.