Annie POV

Stamp.

Stamp.

Click, shuffle, stamp.

I didn't even read over the assassination proposals anymore, I just stamped them. Whoever submitted them surely had good reason.

Piles and piles of papers and files and I was just mindlessly going through them stamping and stamping and stamping.

I giggled to myself, looking down at the hundreds of files I'd been through today, letting my hair fall in front of my face.

My office door swung open, and I sprung back to a more sophisticated look.

'Handler, miss?', Herb addressed me, holding another crate of files. I let my expression fall as I eyed the box, letting out a defeated series of laughs.

'Yeah, I know, it's a lot.', he said, plopping the box down on my desk, making my solar powered dancing dinosaur figurine jiggle. 'But with great power comes great responsibility.', he said, smiling.

'And my choice of free food every day in the cafeteria..', I said, kicking back in my chair. 'That's what I'm in this for.'

'It's Indonesian day today, you'll wanna get in there quick before the good stuff is gone.', he said, face lighting up.

'Oh, yeah. Thanks.', I mumbled. 'Herb, have I ever told you that I spent my first three years of life in Indonesia?', I questioned playfully, folding my hands on my chest, atop my newly inked tattoo of a full Ouija board below my collar bones.

'Oh, I saw.', he said. He then realized how creepy that sounded, as I could see by his change in expression, and he corrected himself. 'On the infinite switchboard, ya know.' He giggled nervously. 'Deadly little booger, you were.'

I flashed my 'goodbye' palm at him, making crazy eyes, and he quite nearly flinched.

'So, I'll be going now, but, erm, those need to be finished up by six.', he said, heading for the door.

'Gotcha.'

It was silent after he left, and then the expected laughing from underneath my desk started up.

I kicked my foot forward into his side, laughing myself.

'Get out from under there, Felix.', I said, jokingly stabbing him with my foot. I rolled my chair back, seeing him now sprawled out in the floor under the desk, laughing so hard he was wheezing.

'You', he wheezed, unable to get his thought out. 'You!?'... 'You are so hard to take seriously when you do that palm flash thing, it's like... OooooOoooo, I'm a death witch!'

I kicked him again, laughing more. 'Shut up, stupid.'

He brought his hands to his face and wiped it down, breathing out heavily to calm his laughing down. He reached a hand out, and I helped him up.

But as he pulled up, his head bumped the desk, sending a paper from the new crate falling out onto the floor. I grabbed it as he rubbed his head and grimaced in pain.

He groaned in pain.

'Shut up, I'm trying to read this.'

He looked up at me, totally offended. I shrugged my shoulders at him, and he stood up slowly.

'What is it? Another file?', he asked, still rubbing his head as he stood over my shoulder.

I stared back down at the address.

'It's from my aunt Dolores.'

Dolores POV

'Drink?', he said, offering me a bottle of gin, hand gripped loosely around it.

I looked around the apartment, scattered with emptied bottles, and figured this hadn't been his first drink of the day.

'I'm good.', I said quietly, turning him down.

He twisted the cap off, plopping himself down on his couch, taking a good hearty chug of the stuff. 'More for me.'

I uncomfortably sat down next to him, swiping a couple of embroidered scarves away from the couch cushion.

He picked up the tv remote, not looking at me.

'You wanna' watch Dance Moms?', he said, flipping through the channels.

I stuck my hand out, slowly making him lower the tv remote, and he turned his gaze to me.

'Geez, Dory, we'll watch something else then.'

'No, Klaus.', I said quietly, looking him in the eye.

I stared him in the eyes for several moments, trying to make the serious tone of my intentions clear. He caught on after a little bit.

He took another swig from his gin. 'Yeah, I know.'

I nodded, looking around, seeing what a mess the place was. Utterly disheveled.

'What...', I started, pausing, looking back up at him. A strand of hair from his bun fell down in his face. 'What happened, Klaus?'

He screwed the cap back onto the bottle of gin, surprising me, and took his hair down from the bun, shaking it loose across his shoulders. He cracked his knuckles, as if he was preparing for a fight, and turned to me.

'I'm dying.', he said, smiling at me nonchalantly, as if he wasn't speaking such horrible talk.

I furrowed my brow for a moment, confused, and scrunched my eyes together.

'What?'

'I'm going to die, Dory.', he said, folding his hands together under his chin, letting his grin fall.

'You...?', I said, not able to form a full sentence. 'You're sick?'

'No, no! I'm not sick.', he explained. 'I'm just on a very quickly moving pre-determined life path that will lead to my ultimate demise.'

I stared back at him, not sure how to respond.

'Um, what?'

'Nostradamus appeared to me, and told me that I had to make a choice, blah blah blah, I can't see Annie for the rest of my life, and I have to sacrifice my life in the future so that the kids can destroy the Temps Commission as the prophecy states.', he explained.

'Uhhhhhhh?'

'It's very unfortunate.', he said, trying to smile.

'Klaus, buddy, were you high when this happened?', I questioned, dumfounded. 'And is this the whole reason you've been gone for the past year? Living here alone?', I said, lifting up a scarf, and a cheetoh fell off.

'Nostradamus doesn't lie, Dory!', he said, raising his eyebrows.

I stared back at him, grimacing, and shook my head.

'Klaus.', I said, placing my hand on his shoulder. I put my other hand to his cheek and stared at him. 'Klaus, buddy, sweet, sweet Klaus.'

'Yessie?', he said, grinning at me?

'YOU ARE THE BIGGEST IDIOT I'VE EVER MET IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!'