It should be obvious that this is an alternate universe; Begin!

~Normal POV

"Now don't you worry about a thing," Mr. Poe said as he kept his eyes on the road, "I know it's hard to lose so much so quickly but I'm taking you to stay with some friends of your parents. You'll have a nice, comfortable, new home."

In the back seat of the car were Duncan and Isadora Quagmire, both 12 and from a set of triplets. Just last week they lost their home in a terrible fire. Their parents and their brother were gone now. The two sat quietly contemplating their situation. This Mr. Poe was apparently a friend of the family they were going to be living with; they had been staying at his house until he made living arrangements for them. They could only hope he was right about this being a nice new home.

"Um, is this family adopting us officially sir," Duncan asked; he was curious about the specifics of the arrangements.

"No they're just taking you in," Mr. Poe replied, "You don't have to change your names or anything. Your parents had it in their will that you be left in the care of their old friends Bertrand and Beatrice Baudelaire."

"But we've never met them," Isadora noted.

"I'm sure you would have been introduced eventually. They have children of their own too right around your age. Ah, here we are!" Mr. Poe drove the car into a long driveway of the lovely Baudelaire mansion.

Duncan and Isadora got out of the car and followed him up to the front door. Before they could knock, the doors flung open and they were greeted by a pregnant woman with a bright smile.

"Hello Arthur, are these the Quagmire triplets?"

"Actually, they're twi-"

"Arthur, hush. They are triplets! I should know I was there when they were born," Beatrice said fiercely.

She practically shoved Mr. Poe aside and put her arms around the two kids and ushered them inside. Duncan and Isadora were at first about to get upset about the idea that their birthright had been changed, but now they were holding back giggles at how furiously Mrs. Baudelaire had dismissed the idea. Beatrice all but slammed the door in Mr. Poe's face and turned to them with a warm smile.

"I'm Beatrice Baudelaire," She said, "I used to be Karen's best friend when we were younger. My husband Bertrand is out on a business trip for now but he should be home by next Thursday. And if you don't mind me saying so, it's wonderful to see you again."

Duncan smiled, "I'm sorry but our parents never mentioned you to us..."

"Well we haven't seen each other in years. I think the last time I saw you was when I introduced you to Violet as an infant. After that we just communicated through letters and eventually stopped speaking to each other entirely. Life just kind of got in the way. I had another baby, and I'm about to have my third one, and now..." She looked down solemnly and paused before perking back up and saying, "Never you mind. You're going to live with me and my family and you'll be perfectly fine. And look how much you've grown! Duncan, I remember I got to hold you first when you were born; I could tell you were going to be a handsome young man. Isadora, you're so beautiful now; you have Karen's smile."

She then started leading them through her house as she continued talking, "My oldest Violet is she's 13. And my son Klaus is 11. I expect you'll get along well. I only have one rule in this house: behave. Are we clear?"

"Absolutely, Mrs. Baudelaire, we wouldn't want to do anything to offend," Isadora replied.

"Oh, please call me Beatrice! And you won't have to worry about sharing or anything, this mansion is perfectly big enough for everyone to have their own room. Isadora you'll have the room across from Violet, and Duncan your room will be across from Klaus'. Now let's get you upstairs and into some more comfortable attire. Mrs. Poe has a habit of buying clothes that are far too itchy for some reason."

"We know the feeling," Duncan replied.

~…

Once Beatrice finished showing the two to their rooms, and giving them more appropriate clothing, she took them into the kitchen and offered both of them root beer.

"Now I have to leave here in a while for a check up on my baby and then I have to run some other errands downtown. I trust that you can handle being alone with Violet and Klaus for a while right?"

As if right on cue, a girl ran into the room frantically looking around for something. She had long ebony hair and dark eyes. Duncan watched her curiously as she searched the room up and down for whatever she was looking for.

"Mother," She asked, "Have you seen my hair ribbon anywhere? I think I dropped it; it wasn't in my pocket."

"I'm sorry dear I haven't seen it. But it's good that you're here. I wanted to introduce you to our new guests. This is Duncan and Isadora Quagmire; they're going to stay with us now. This is my daughter Violet."

Violet smiled at them, "Oh, sorry, hi I wasn't paying attention."

Beatrice grabbed her bag off the counter and said good bye before leaving for her appointment. Duncan couldn't help staring at Violet. She was really pretty...

"It's nice to meet you," He said, smiling at her.

Violet returned his smile and a pink blush tinted her cheeks. The two locked eyes for several seconds.

"Get a room," Isadora interrupted with a sly smirk.

They blinked and quickly looked away from each other.

"Uh, you said you were looking for something," Duncan asked.

"Yes, my hair ribbon; it's black and has my initials on it."

Duncan and Isadora started looking around the room with her for the object. They weren't sure why she needed it so badly but it seemed important. They kept up conversation while they looked.

"So, Violet, where's your brother," Isadora asked, "We haven't seen him yet."

"Eager to meet him or something," Violet smirked.

Isadora blushed lightly, "No, I was just asking."

Violet chuckled, "He's in the library; trust me if you ever need him he'll most likely be there."

"Aha! I found it," Duncan shouted, handing the ribbon to her, "It fell under the table."

Violet eagerly began tying her hair back with it, "Thank you Duncan! Now I can get downstairs and work on my inventions."

She turned to leave the room but Duncan spoke up, "You're an inventor?"

"Yes I am," She replied, "If you want I can show you my studio. It's in the basement."

Duncan smiled and followed her out. Isadora smirked at them as they left. She was always able to tell when her brother was interested in a girl, and now was no exception. She opted to not follow them and explore the mansion herself. She walked down several hallways before reaching a room labeled library. Just as expected, when she went inside she found the sight of a boy sitting in a comfortable armchair reading a book. Despite her being older, he was already a bit taller than her; and he wore glasses that made him look intelligent. Isadora smiled a little; he was actually kind of cute. He didn't even notice she was there as he was too focused on his book to notice anything outside of its pages.

Isadora walked up to him, "Ahem, hello."

He jumped and dropped his book at the sound of her voice. Isadora fought not to laugh.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you! I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm guessing you're Klaus, aren't you? I'm Isadora Quagmire; your mom is letting my brother and I live with you guys now."

She leaned down, picked up the book, and handed it to him. Klaus blushed sheepishly and held the book to his chest while looking at the floor. He looked shy; Isadora couldn't help thinking that it made him cuter.

"Um... Hi..."

"What's the matter? Can't talk to girls?"

Klaus nodded shyly and avoided eye contact with her. Isadora giggled at the fact that he had actually answered her silly question. This only seemed to embarrass him more. He quietly opened his book and went back to reading, his cheeks still very red behind his glasses. She turned to look around the private library and spotted the poetry book section. She grabbed a poetry book and sat down in the chair next to him to read.

However, before she started reading her book she smirked at him and said, "I find shy boys to be a charming delight; I'd love to go out with them any night."

To her immense surprise, that actually got him to speak up, "That's a couplet! Ogden Nash uses them!"

She smiled brightly, "I know I've read all his work. I also write poetry."

Klaus seemed to have ignored the obvious flirty implications of her poem because he was so excited that she wrote poetry. She didn't mind; she was sure he would figure it out eventually. They happily continued talking about their shared interest. And it seemed to help Klaus get over his shyness even temporarily. They didn't notice Violet and Duncan had come back from wherever they had gone and were now watching them with smirks.

"Well somebody made a friend," Violet joked.

"If he hurts my sister I'll have to kill him."

Violet shoved Duncan playfully, "Klaus isn't like that. Hell this is the first time I've seen him talk to a girl with actual words, besides me of course. He's very well read, but when comes to a pretty girl he can't form words."

Duncan chuckled, "Want to tell them to get a room?"

"Nah, let them have their moment. We'll tease them later. So how do you like your new home so far?"

Duncan smiled softly at her, "The people are the best part..."

"That's good to hear," Violet put her hand on his shoulder comfortingly, "And we'll be here for you."

~The End!

Not much actual romance in this one but that's ok it's just a simple alternate universe short story! Bye!