Universe*

~Epilogue

A few weeks later on June 7th it was time for Lizzie's birthday party.

Everyone gathered in the backyard of the estate for the party. And they meant everyone. Jerome Squalor and his husband Charles, and their daughter Hannah, Justice Judy Strauss, and many other friends of the family were able to make it. Captain Widdershins had managed to get some time off V.F.D. business to come, and brought both his crew mates along with him. Other guests included Jacqueline and Larry, Beatrice, Trevor, and Hunter.

Sunny baked and decorated a beautiful cake for her niece's special day; in her favorite flavor of course, chocolate. Unsurprisingly, most of Lizzie's presents had been various books that she had requested from her family members. Fernald even bought her a book about mythological sea creatures that she was happy to share with Sam if he wanted to read it. However, there was one surprise that nobody had been expecting during the party: unexpected guests.

Klaus answered the door to find several adults and three children, "Can I help you?"

One of the adults, a woman who had her hand on her son's shoulder, spoke up, "I'm Katherine Hyde and this is my son Drake. I've been told that his friend Nikki and her cousins live on this property? We were all told about a birthday party for Lizzie Baudelaire and we all agreed to take our kids here."

Klaus raised a brow at the three kids, "So you're the kids that my daughter told us about?"

"Yes sir," The boy with glasses replied. Klaus couldn't help feeling wary of the small present he held in his arms. The boy appeared to be accompanied by two women who both had their arms on him. He must be their son, Klaus concluded internally.

"We're sorry that we weren't really invited, but Lizzie said we could come if we wanted to," The third child, a red haired girl with freckles spoke up, "Everything happened so fast that she might have forgotten."

However, it appeared that Lizzie hadn't forgotten because when she showed up at the door to ask her father what was going on, the young Baudelaire girl got excited about seeing the three of them again and quickly went to hug Lily. She held herself back from hugging Drake and Lucas, as she knew her father would be livid if she did. Klaus happily led the new guests out to the party area to introduce them to the rest of the family and friends.

Nikki and Sam were excited to see their new friends too. Duncan got a lecture from Violet when he got furious over Nikki giving Drake a hug. Drake, Lucas, and Lily had all brought presents for the birthday girl; much to the surprise of no one they were also various books.

Lizzie attempted to return the book that Lucas had given her while they in their Mortmain Mountain prison, but he declined saying he had already replaced it. The book he bought her for her birthday was a mystery novel; he revealed that mysteries were his personal favorite genre. Isadora couldn't help smirking as she watched her daughter talk to her friend. At one point, she even pulled aside Violet, Fiona, and Lucas' mothers, Diana and Shelly, aside and said, "I've seen that look before. Klaus and my brothers are not going to like this."

And it was unfortunately true. Klaus kept an annoyingly close watch on Lucas as he talked with Lizzie. And Duncan and Quigley, Lizzie's faithful, protective uncles, kept close watch on Drake and Lucas as the two boys conversed with Nikki and Lizzie. Duncan wasn't thrilled about the idea of a boy showing interest in his daughter either. Violet and Isadora both rolled their eyes at them. And Quigley was watching both young boys like a hawk. Those were his nieces! How dare they speak to his little nieces? Although, after some time Fiona pulled him aside and smiled as she pointed out the sight of their son Sam talking to his new friend Lily. Lily's parents, Nick and Natasha had noticed it as well; and of course Nick wasn't thrilled about the idea either.

Aside from the obvious tension the adults had about their kids making new "friends," the party actually went quite well. The kids were all playing nice and having fun together, and the adults got to know each other better too. Katherine revealed that they had all been given the estate's address by the woman who returned their children to them after being kidnapped: a woman by the name of Kit Snicket. They weren't privy to the details of why the kidnappings happened, but they didn't need to know. Their children were safe thanks to Sunny, and that was all that mattered.

Lizzie's birthday party went off flawlessly just like intended. And Drake, Lucas, and Lily revealed that they went to the same public school that the Quagmire/Baudelaire cousins went to, so they would be able to see each other often even when school started up again. The six children were surely going to be lifelong friends, even after meeting under such strange and unfortunate circumstances.

And perhaps in the future they might even become something more... if their parents approved of the idea of course.

~The End!

I know this was shorter than it probably should have been, but I think it turned out ok! I hope you enjoyed it!