Elizabeth didn't know how long she sat there on the curbstone, crying her eyes out. Long enough for the coffee to get cold and her milkshake to melt into a milky liquid at least. At one point someone had approached her to ask if she was okay. But she had screamed at them to let her be and go away. Something she normally never did, but she was at her wits end and completely overwhelmed by the situation and her feelings. She wanted to be left alone as she fell apart and tried to calm down again. She HAD to calm down before she got back to Five.
She thought she had made peace with what had happened to her and Five. But hearing what her disappearance had done to her family tore a fresh wound into her heart that hurt like hell and bled heavily. Her head was hurting a little and her eyes were red and swollen from crying. She still sporadically sobbed, but it got slowly better. The girl took a sip from her milkshake... or what was left of it.
Her eyes landed on the box with the doughnuts and she opened it. In it were the two doughnuts she had specifically asked for... and the two surprises. One was with white glaze and and colorful sprinkles and the other a had white and yellow glaze. The blonde felt her eyes fill with tears again and she blinked rapidly to make them go away.
Funfetti and Lemon Custard. Another two of her favorites she had ordered often back then. And Agnes seemed to still remember it... though if she had given her these two types of doughnuts purposefully or if she had done it unconsciously because she reminded her of, well, Elizabeth Roberts; she didn't know. She took the lemon doughnut and bit into it, feeling the fruity-sour cream fill her mouth.
Elizabeth had to put herself together before she went back to Five. If her husband found out what she had done, going back to Griddy's and talking with Agnes about her family; finding out what had happened to them, and how she had reacted to that... he would be devastated and, again, feel immensely guilty. She didn't want that.
Years ago she had promised that she had forgiven him and didn't blame him anymore. And she really had. It was an unfortunate accident that had brought them together and that it was her that he had taken with him pure coincidence. It could have happened with anyone or no one at all. Though she shuddered to think about what would have become of Five if he had been alone for all these years. Well, not totally alone, because there was also Delores, who he would have probably found anyway.
In a way she was glad they had been together and could count on each other for surviving. She adored Five from the bottom of her heart and loved the relationship they had now. And she knew he did, too. Still, it hurt to hear from her family and what had become of them. How her disappearance had destroyed what they once had. At least that explained why she had never found their remains: they hadn't been in the city anymore, plain and simple. They had expanded years before the apocalypse; her mom and brother moving to her grandparents in Montana and her dad to Florida, searching for a child he would never find.
But dwelling on that and thinking about what could have been if she had never disappeared didn't do anything good. It wouldn't change anything. The only thing she could do was help prevent the apocalypse. After that she could find her family and try to somehow fix what had been broken. Five had promised he would help her then. "Even if I have to invest all of dads money into it, we're going to find them and I will take responsibility for everything. I promise you, Liz." He had passionately declared once.
She smiled and suddenly had the overwhelming urge to go and see her husband. For every hardship he had brought into her life, he had given her just as much happiness - or tried to, at least. She couldn't imagine a life without him. So they had to do this.
She got up and picked up their things. Then she went back to the person she loved more than anything in this world.
.
.
As Elizabeth arrived at the van she was surprised about the people standing there. "Hey, Lizzie!" Klaus greeted her enthusiastically. "Oh, hey, Klaus... and Luther?" She greeted back, looking at the big man behind Klaus, who was currently looking into the car through a side window. "What are you doing here?" Luther looked up. "We're here for Five. He has to come home for..." he hesitated. "... family business." He then muttered.
The girl narrowed her eyes slightly. She could clearly feel the distrust towards her he was exuding. But then she shrugged mentally. She couldn't exactly fault him for it. After all, he did barely know her. "So?" She sighed. "Why are you standing outside? Get in the car." Luther moved his gaze sideways, back to the van. "I knocked at the window... but he ignores me."
That got her attention. "What do you mean he 'ignores' you?" She asked. Five could be a mean asshole, but she didn't think he would ignore his brother when he suddenly popped up. The big man shrugged. "He just sits there and looks out. Doesn't react to anything, though."
Alarmed, she immediately threw open the side door and went into the car, hearing a mumbled "oh, it was open?" from Luther behind her. She went to the front seats and there the boy sat in the drivers seat: looking out blankly and breathing heavily. "Five." She tried to get his attention - but he didn't react. So she laid a hand on his left cheek and gently forced his head in her direction. "Come back to me my love." She tried to lure him and already his gaze got more lively as he focused on her. "What..?" He mumbled shakily and she caressed his cheek, reassuring him. "Everything is okay. We're not in the apocalypse anymore, we're safe and together. I'm here with you."
He sometimes had these episodes were he spaced out and got lost in terrible memories. She had them, too. Elizabeth was no expert, but she was pretty sure they both had PTSD or something like that. After everything they had been through that was more than possible. And the only thing they could do when something like this happened was being there for each other.
Fives gaze cleared and now he put a hand on her cheek. "Liz... you're here." He croaked. Then he put his other hand on the back of her neck and pulled her down to him, kissing her urgently. "You were gone so long, I thought... did you cry?" he continued after, noticing her red eyes and touching the skin right under it with a thumb. She took his hand from her cheek. "Yes - no. I know." She stammered, not sure what to answer without making him worry. "I'm sorry. I- I had to do something." She explained and at his questioning gaze continued. "I'll explain it to you later, promise. But your brothers are here for you."
As if on cue Luther opened the door and got into the car - what took a couple moments, as his huge muscles got in the way. Elizabeth had to suppress a smile at that comical display, but was then distracted by Klaus; who, for some reason, suddenly took her hand and pulled her to the back of the van.
Grunting and panting Luther got in, at last. "You okay?" He asked his brother, who looked at him in surprised disbelief. "You shouldn't be…" he started, but then switched to a question that seemed more urgent to him mid sentence. "How did you find us?" Luther looked to the back. "Uhm…" Fives gaze followed - and immediately he felt the urge to murder.
Klaus, for whatever reason, was in the back of the car; holding HIS WIFE in an intimate embrace and DANCING… or whatever this tumbling around was supposed to be. Said brother noticed their stares. "Hey, a little privacy, guys. We're really hitting it off back here." He playfully pulled Elizabeth even closer and the blonde sweat dropped. This couldn't end well with Fives jealousy.
And just as she had thought that something came flying towards them, hitting Klaus on the shoulder, making him scream and hide behind the much shorter girl. "GET OUT!" The boy screamed. "You can't be here! We're in the middle of something. And take your dirty hands off my wife!"
Klaus let go of her and together they went to the front again. "Any luck finding your one-eyed man?" He casually asked and both teens whispered an urgent "no". After all, their mission was still a secret to everyone but Klaus - and it was supposed to stay like this for the time being, according to Five. "What's he talkin' about?" Luther asked and Five looked at him dismissively. "Does it matter? It's Klaus." The man pouted at that and Elizabeth patted his back good-naturedly.
Five sighed. "What do you want, Luther?" Said man looked at the blonde girl in sheepish suspicion. He was obviously not sure if and how much he could talk about with her - an outsider - being there. "Uhm... So Grace may have had something to do with Dad's death." Five didn't react to that, but Elizabeth looked at him in intrigued surprise.
He suspected their robot mom was responsible for Reginald Hargreeves death? Was that possible? As far as she knew the patriarch had built and programmed her. So... was it suicide then? Had Grace malfunctioned? Or... had she developed a consciousness? Maybe she finally had enough of Reginald and how he treated her and her children.
"So I need you to come back to the academy, all right? It's important." Luther continued. Five averted his eyes and huffed. "'It's important.'" He mocked. "You have no concept of what's important." The boy glared at his brother and the atmosphere grew tense. "Hey!" Klaus suddenly interrupted. "Did I ever tell you about the time I waxed my ass with chocolate pudding?" He laughed exaggerated. "It was so painful!" Elizabeth looked at him in bewilderment (was it even possible to wax with pudding?) and Five had to turn away his gaze and suppress a grin, muttering "Ay, ay, ay..."
Luther looked at his brother in disgust. "What are you still doing here?" Klaus stopped to laugh. "What?" He put a hand on his chest, pretending to be hurt. "I - what? I need an excuse to hang out with my family?" Luther threw a glance at the blonde girl, as if wanting to say "you're not meant with that", but instead simply said "we're trying to have a serious conversation."
"What, and I'm incapable of being serious?" Klaus defended himself. "Is that what you're saying?" Now Five interfered as well. "Luther's got a point, you should get out." Klaus looked at him, now seemingly really hurt. "What?" Elizabeth sighed and grabbed Klaus' shoulder. "Come on, we're going out." Five immediately grabbed her hand. "Hey. I didn't say anything about you." She squeezed his hand. "I know." She looked at Luther, who suddenly averted his gaze. "But I think it's better if I get out, too. You two should talk in private. Get out what you want to say without anyone else listening in."
The boy looked at his wife questioningly and she smiled at him reassuringly. "I stay close by." She promised and he nodded, then he let go of her hand. The girl went after Klaus, who had already left the van with a huffed "fine!", and closed the door behind her. Together they stood at the side of the car. "So..." Elizabeth started and looked him up and down, slightly grinning. "You're high as a kite, aren't you." She stated and the man just shrugged. But it was obvious with his bloodshot eyes, the impaired coordination and slowed reaction time she had just observed when Klaus had tried to make her dance with him. Also, he smelled pretty strongly of weed.
She looked around and spotted a mini mart just across the street and took his arm. "Come on." She said, pulling him with her. "Let's get you something to eat. You're probably already quite hungry, huh." Klaus let her pull him along, but looked at her with surprise. "Oh? Seems like someone has experience with weed."
They entered the store. Except for the cashier standing at the register and a police officer browsing the shelves it was empty. They went straight for the snack shelf. Elizabeth chuckled. "A bit." She then quietly admitted, her eyes browsing through the snacks. After the doughnuts and the milkshake she had consumed on her way back she was now in the mood for something salty. Klaus' eyebrows rose, impressed at that revelation.
The blonde grabbed a pack of chips and looked up at the man. "Take whatever you like. I'll pay." Five had actually given her almost 100$. More than enough for the doughnuts and some snacks. Klaus grinned from ear to ear. "Why, thank you." He grabbed a pack of popcorn. "I honestly like you more and more, dearest sister in law~. But how come you have experience with..." he squinted to the police officer leisurely doing some shopping. "...you know. That stuff."
Elizabeth discreetly looked around, making sure no one was listening in, especially the officer. She didn't know if smoking weed was still illegal in this state, but better safe than sorry. "Once, when we were still, you know, in the apocalypse... we stumbled upon a whole storage hall full of little packs of marijuana." She whispered. "I don't know if it had been an HQ for some crime group before or something, but there it was. So... Five and I decided to try some."
She thought back to that couple of days and giggled. How old had they been? 20, maybe? It had actually been a somewhat nice experience. She had felt so relaxed for some time. The world had even seemed a little less hostile. And Five had been more pleasant high than when he was drunk from alcohol.
"It was a funny time. But nothing we could or wanted to do regularly." Klaus looked at her questioningly. "Why?" Being high was one of the best feelings ever, in his book. Only topped by sex. She looked up at him. "Well, you get pretty hungry after some time and food was scarce. You also loose the ability to judge something appropriately and so within three days we ate the food that should have lasted us for at least a couple weeks. And having 'the munchies' without food to eat around is awful."
After that binge eating caused by drug induced lack of judgment she and Five had to go without food for a couple of days, until they finally had been able to catch some rats. Yeah, trying to smoke weed had been funny, but not worth it if it lead to something like this. So they'd never done it again. And Five had gone back to his favorite poison: alcohol. A battle she still fought with him, from time to time.
Klaus looked at the short girl, fascinated. She did look like a young teen, but the way she talked and behaved made her seem much older. He was the same as his other siblings; wondering if everything his brother and his 'wife' were talking about could be true. But what if it was? What if they had really gone through hell and come back to prevent it?
They took some more things and went to the register, the police officer coming up behind them. He was doing nothing but waiting for his turn to pay, but Klaus immediately got shifty and nervous. Then he suddenly grabbed their snacks from the counter the cashier was still scanning and ran to the door. The cashier screamed "hey, that's stealing! Officer!" just as Elizabeth exclaimed "Klaus, wait!". The police officer dropped everything he was carrying and went after Klaus, exiting the shop.
Elizabeth could hear the officer yell "Stop! Hey! Stop right now!" and then Klaus' "Hey, bitches!" A whistle was blown. The girl grabbed her forehead and pulled out a 50$ bill, handing it to the angry and dumbfounded cashier. "I'm paying, don't worry." She reassured sheepishly. God, that was so embarrassing. "Keep the change." She grabbed the rest of their stuff and went out, watching Klaus run away from the officer and shrugged exasperated when she saw Five and Luther looking questioningly at her from the car.
A taxi suddenly drove up, breaking sharply and only narrowly avoiding Klaus, who yelled at the car. "Out of the way, asshole!". Elizabeth flinched, but it seemed like nothing serious had happened, as Klaus was still running. She sighed and went back to the car. "What was that about?" Five asked as she opened the door. The blonde shook her head. "I have absolutely no idea. I told him from the beginning I would pay; then he just grabs the stuff and runs out." Luther made an angry face, muttering "damn good for nothing druggie."
She came up behind them. "So? What did you talk about? Are we going back to the house?" Five scoffed. "No." Elizabeth looked at him, surprised. "Huh? But Luther said it's important." He looked up at his wife. "Liz, what we're doing is way more important and you know it." She gave him an annoyed glance. "Of course I know it, but it's your family."
She felt like a parrot at this point, always saying the same damn thing. But he just didn't seem to understand how important it was to her. He had a serious chance to reconcile with his family - something she desperately wished for, but couldn't. Not yet. "They need you for something and it doesn't sound like it will take long. We can go there and then come back here again. Or you go and I wait. I doubt our guy will turn up anytime soon anyway."
Luther looked at her interested at the mention of a specific "guy" again and Five glared at her for spilling some of their secrets. "You know what?" he griped, "if it's so important to you then why don't you go with them alone and tell me what was so important to pause our mission afterwards." The couple angrily stared at each other and Luther sweat dropped. He really didn't want to get caught up in a lover's quarrel.
Elizabeth smoothed out her face. "Fine." She then said and Fives face dropped in surprise. Seemed like he hadn't predicted that. The girl turned to the big man. "Get up, Luther, we're going." He looked up at her in confusion. "Going where?"
Elizabeth turned around and grabbed a box and a coffee-to-go cup from one of the shelves in the van. "To your house, of course. Five doesn't want to go. So, as his wife, I'm going in his stead." She shoved the box and a pack of chips in Fives lap and put the coffee in the cup holder. "The coffee is already cold, sorry. But eat something, okay?" Five didn't say anything, seemingly having mild problems understanding what was currently happening.
She went out of the car and then stuck in her head after some tense, silent moments. "Luther, come on. We still have to get Klaus." Still confused and overwhelmed, because he honestly hadn't even thought about getting the girl involved in all of their family drama, he reluctantly tried to squeeze himself out of the passenger door again.
"Liz... Liz!" Five shouted after his wife. But she didn't answer, calmly walking away from the car, Luther trailing behind. She was angry and annoyed with him for still refusing to tell his siblings about the apocalypse. He knew that. But simply walking away and leaving him behind? That was new.
He sighed and looked down at the items in his lap. The chips were his favorite flavor.
.
.
Elizabeth and Luther went to find Klaus, who had finally shaken off the police officer and been hiding behind a dumpster. Then they walked back to the Hargreeves house. It was a silent track, as Luther didn't know what to say to that, to him, unknown girl; Klaus was eating some of his snacks and Elizabeth was silently brooding, being angry with Five and still a bit annoyed with Klaus for the completely unnecessary and humiliating stunt he had pulled with trying to steal that stuff. Back at the house the rest of the Hargreeve siblings were already waiting in the living room, an old fashioned TV and a video recorder standing on the bar.
Vanya, Diego and Allison watched with surprise as Klaus and Luther entered the room with the blonde girl in tow - only her. "Where is Five?" Allison asked. "Not coming." Elizabeth sighed and sat down on the sofa standing right from the bar. "I'm here in his stead. Whatever it is Luther wants to discuss so urgently I will report to him, don't worry." Luther glared at her and she rolled her eyes. She got it, he didn't want her here, boohoo. "Can we begin now?" Diego asked impatiently.
They watched the footage of Reginald Hargreeves, seemingly, dying from a heart attack - and Grace doing nothing. She calmly continued whatever she was doing and then left the room without so much as turning around as Reginald was writhing in agony and then, at last, laying still. Admittedly, it was kind of disturbing to watch. Luther then explained how he and Allison believed that their dad hadn't died from an heart attack after all, but been poisoned by Grace. "It can't be." Vanya mumbled in disbelief. "I mean, do you really think Mom would hurt Dad?" Luther looked at her. "You haven't been home in a long time, Vanya." He argued. "Maybe you don't know Grace anymore."
"If he was poisoned, it would have shown in the coroners report." Diego explained a bit condescending and Luther scoffed. "Well, I don't need a report to tell me what I can see with my own eyes." Diego nodded his head a few times. "Maybe all that low gravity in space messed with your vision." He lightly sneered and went to the video recorder, rewinding the tape a bit. "Look closer." Everyone looked at the screen again, watching Reginald and Grace go through their motions. "Dad has his monocle. Mom stands up. Monocle's gone." Klaus sniggered. "Oh, yeah!"
Diego slowly went over to the sideboard standing opposite to the bar. "She wasn't poisoning him. She was... taking it." He leaned against the sideboard. "To clean it." Luther turned around to his brother. "Then where is it? No, I've searched the house, including all her things. She doesn't have it." Diego looked down, opening his mouth, but taking several moments to say anything. "That's because I took it from her." He eventually admitted, raising his knife, pointing it to the ceiling . "After the funeral"
Everyone stared at him. "You had the monocle this whole time? What the hell, Diego!" Allison exclaimed angrily and Luther demanded "Give it to me." Diego looked at him wryly. "I threw it away." Luther stared flabbergasted at his brother and Allison scoffed. "You what?" the big man asked. Diego pointed his knife at Luther. "Look, I knew that if you found it on Mom, you'd lose your shit, just like you're doing it now." He explained and Elizabeth had to admit that he was kind of right. Luther seemed hellbent on proving his father's death had been anything BUT natural - if it was justified remained to be seen. Though that didn't mean what Diego had done had been right.
"Diego, you son of a bitch." Luther growled and Diego raised his fist, ready to continue their fight from the funeral. Elizabeth sat up straighter and scolded them with a "boys, stop!" (making Luther throw her another glare) just as Vanya stepped up to her brothers. "Hey, no. Calm down." She pleaded, looking between them. "Look, I know Dad wasn't exactly an open book. But I do remember one thing he said." Everyone looked at the brunette woman. "Mom was, well, designed to be a caretaker, but... also as a protector." Allison gave her sister a questioning look. "What does that mean?"
"She was programmed to intervene if someone's life was in jeopardy." Vanya explained. "Well, if her hardware is degrading, then... we need to turn her off." Luther concluded and Diego lost it. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait!" He yelled. "She's not just a vacuum cleaner you can throw in a closet! She feels things, I've seen it!" Luther pointed to the old fashioned TV. "She just stood there, Diego, and watched our father die." Allison played with the glass she was holding. "I'm with Luther." She admitted. Diego turned to her. "Surprise, surprise." He stated dryly and Allison grimaced. "Shut up."
Both men turned to Vanya - who didn't seem to know what or how to say what she wanted. "I- I don't-" Diego interrupted her. "Yeah, she shouldn't get a vote." Vanya glared at him. "I was gonna say that I agree with you!" Diego shrugged. "Okay. She should get a vote." Elizabeth rolled her eyes again. What hypocrisy. The assassin turned to Klaus. "What about you, stoner boy? What do you got to say?" Said man looked at his siblings. "Oh, so, what? You need my help now? Oh, 'get out of the van, Klaus!', 'well, welcome back to the van'."
Allison looked at him questioningly and then turned to Luther and Elizabeth. "What van?" The blonde girl just shook her head and Luther scoffed. "What's it gonna be, Klaus?" He demanded. Klaus pointed at the dark clad man. "I'm with Diego, because screw you! And if Ben were here, he'd agree with me." Everyone was silent for a moment and then Klaus suddenly hissed at something. Luther sighed. "So that's three to two." Diego pointed out, holding up both hands; one with three fingers up, the other with two. "Wait," Luther protested.
Allison interrupted. "Vote's not final yet." Diego turned to her, looking exasperated. "What?" The woman looked at Elizabeth. "Five's not here." Elizabeth raised both her eyebrows, surprised. Did she really expect from her to speak up for her husband? "She doesn't get to vote, she is not part of the family." Luther griped and now Elizabeth glared at him. "I know. Thanks for the constant reminder, though."
Allison looked between them, trying to figure out what Luther had against her suddenly. "What do you mean?" She asked him. "She is together with Five, and already for a long time, it seems. The whole family has to vote. We owe each other that. Five is not here, but she is. And I'm not sure we should wait much longer, concerning Mom."
Elizabeth sighed. "Look, Five and I have been together for a very long time; that's true." She conceded. "And yes, I'm pretty sure I know what he would have voted on." Both men looked at her in interest. "But I would never do that to him, if you wanted me or not. Grace is his mom, not mine. He should vote, not me. So I say you wait for him before you do anything rash." Luther averted his gaze. This was more than he had expected from her. She at least really did seem to care about his brother. "Right." Vanya agreed. "No, we should wait."
Elizabeth stood up. "I have a question though." Everyone turned to her and she took a deep breath. "I know that it's probably not my place to ask and I don't want to sound insensitive or something. Obviously, I don't know Grace or how it was to grow up with her as a mother. But... she is a robot. That's a matter of fact. So, if she is... malfunctioning or something, can't you just, you know, repair her? Why is this a discussion about turning her off or not?"
Luther stared at the girl and Diego pointed his knife at her, grinning slightly. "She does have a point. One reason more not to do what you say." Luther didn't say anything, being silent for several seconds. Elizabeth scoffed lightly. "You didn't even think about that, right?" He remained silent, so she continued. "You jump to conclusions too fast, Luther. Not a charming character trait to have, if you ask me. And dangerous to boot, depending on the situation." He still didn't look at her and she walked to him, putting a hand on his arm. "Just think about it, again, more carefully now, okay?" She advised, her voice more gentle now. "Don't do something you will regret."
She patted his arm and walked out of the room. Luther hesitated, then did the same, Allison and Klaus following. The discussion was dissolved without any conclusion or decision. And while some were relieved, no one was really satisfied with how it had all went down.
AN: Hallo my lovely readers! This took longer than I thought, haha. Also, I have an announcement to make: I'm starting University coming week and am currently in the process of moving out from my parents, hence why this chapter took so long. So I'm just warning you that from here on out it will probably take longer for me to upload new chapters and/or it will be less regular. Though I will try to upload biweekly or, at least, once a month. But please don't think I dropped the story if you don't hear from me in a couple weeks. And feel free to message me if you are worried
So, in this chapter our lovely couple has a little fight! Though it feels like nothing much else has happened. I hope it feels realistic how I tried to incorporate Elizabeth into that "how did dad die" mess. And that Luther is a bit antagonistic towards her. I did think he was the biggest jerk that season, so it seemed fitting.
Thanks to eriszun and LadyGely92 for confirming my minuscule Spanish knowledge I have acquired thanks to Google translate! Would have been embarrassing if it had been wrong, yikes.
XOXO Lulu