~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It's been a long, long time since I looked into the mirror

I guess that I was blind

Now my reflection's getting clearer

Now that you're gone, things will never be the same again

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            Isadora Quagmire sat down on a pile of cardboard boxes. She leaned back and sighed. Tilting her head back, she could see the wispy white clouds as they filtered over the brilliant blue sky, a view easily seen from the Self-Sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home. Her home. It felt weird, thinking of the cramped baskets as home. Home still brought up the image of the mansion where she'd lived with her triplet brothers, Duncan and Quigley, until she was twelve.

            But that house was gone. So was Quigley. And their parents. It had burned down, destroying her home and her life.

            It was just her and Duncan now, drifting around, without outside contact, without Quigley, and especially without him.

            But she wasn't going to think about him. "No," she said aloud,. She could not think about him.

            She leaned back further and concentrated on the clouds with every bit of her focus.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There's not a minute that goes by every hour of every day

You're such a part of me

But I just pulled away

Well, I'm not the same girl

You used to know

I wish I'd said the words I never showed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            Klaus Baudelaire paused for a moment as he and his sisters, Violet and Sunny, were walking across the dusty stretch of land. Every step that he took was another step he was taking away from her. One step further from her smile and her poems.

            He stopped walking, letting his sisters go ahead.

            The papers crammed into his pocket seemed to burn through to his thigh, making the skin tingle.

            He shook his head slightly. How odd, that he would use a word like burn. Odd, because he and his sisters had lost their house and their parents to fire. Odd, because the same thing had happened to...to her.

            Her. For the millionth time, she entered his mind, uninvited but certainly not unwanted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I know you had to go away

I died just a little and I feel it now

You're the one I need

I believe that I

Would cry just a little just to have you back now

Here with me

Here with me

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            Isadora sniffed back tears. She missed her notebook.

            She yearned for the black notebook where she'd written all of her poems, the spiral binding where she'd tucked her pencil. She needed someplace to get it all out, here it was just crumpled inside of her.

            But the notebook had been destroyed, because it contained the deligent notes she had taken on V.F.D.

            She had been excited, at first. Her and Duncan, solving mysteries. Helping the Baudelaires .She had been thrilled, until it became darker and more serious than she had first imagined.

            Now the secret was stuffed inside her, next to the poems and her feelings for him. She wanted to be able to tell him, to get rid of the guilty weight, but she knew it was impossible. She'd never be able to see Klaus again.

            There. She had said his name.

            She shivered, unable to tell if it was one of pain or of pleasure.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You know that silence is loud

When all you hear is your heart

And I wanted so badly just to

Be a part

Of something strong and true

But I was scared and left it all behind

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            Klaus couldn't resist the blazing papers in his pocket. He reached in and pulled one from his side pocket.

He read it slowly, his lips moving carefully to the words. "Isadora can be SO controlling!!!!!!!!! So I can just think about Violet and her hotness to ignore her. I don't make any sense, do I?" Klaus folded back the piece of paper, with it's spiky handwriting. "No Duncan," he said softly, "you don't."

He reached deeper, finally extracting a crumpled piece covered with loopy cursive. "I've NEVER felt like this before!!!!! I can't even write a poem about it—it's so...intense!!!!!!!!!!! How am I ever supposed to tell Klaus I like him? I'd DIE if he knew!!!!! That's all—Luv, Izzie ^_^" He smiled, then gasped.

She felt the same way.

They loved each other.

And he had to wait to realize it until they would never see one another again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I know you had to go away

I died just a little

And I feel it now

You're the one I need

I believe that I

Would cry just a little

Just to have you back now

Here with me

Here with me

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Isadora smiled at the clouds floating by.

It was so wonderfully exhilarating to be in love. But now it was just an ache in her heart. A painful ache, because she would never see him again.

Ever.

She could still remember watching him walk away. With his sisters. How could he? She need him. Not just physically—oh, that made her blush—but emotionally. Desperately. Crazily. Hungrily. Frantically.

She swallowed. She would just have to forgive whatever had brought them apart.

As if she ever could.

But maybe, if she tried to stay on it's good side, fate would remember her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I never will forget the look

Upon your face

How you turned away

And left without a trace

But I understand that you did what you had to do

And I thank you

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They both looked up at the sky, thinking about each other, They had to be together. And if they tried...well, they were pretty sure it was destiny. And eventually, things would work out.

There's a first time for everything.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I know you had to go away

I died just a little

And I feel it now

You're the one I need

I believe that I

Would cry just a little

Just to have you back now

Here with me

Here with me

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~