CHAPTER TWO: BUSINESS WITH STRAUSS

They excitedly rushed to the door. Violet rang the door bell and soon, a woman came to the door. She had brown hair and a baby in her hands. She looked at them strangely but then smiled.

"Can it be!? Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire!" She yelled.

"Justice Strauss?" Klaus asked.

"Yes!" She said, hugging each of them. "Without my wig of course!" She chuckled. "Who is the baby?" Violet frowned, along with Sunny and Klaus.

"Actually…Our friend died as…as she gave birth." Violet gulped. "This is Beatrice. We promised to take care of her. Oh, please, don't take her away." Justice sadly looked at the three.

"Please, come in. Tell me all that happened with that dreadful Olaf. I haven't seen him in awhile." She said. They came in and sat by a warm fire with hot cocoa in their hands. All three explained the whole story, from the very bad beginning, to the dreadful end...so far. "Oh my dears…"

"We don't have any where to stay… Please don't tell Mr. Poe of our whereabouts. Please." Klaus pleaded. Justice looked as if she were to cry.

"I won't tell him. I promise." She said. She showed them guest bedrooms, though they preferred to sleep in the same room, because they'd feel more secure.

Later that night…

"Justice…?" Violet asked, walking into the kitchen after Klaus, Sunny, and Beatrice were asleep.

"Violet, dear? Why are you awake?"

"I…I couldn't sleep…"

"Why? Come here, come sit next to me." Justice said, patting a seat next to her and handing Violet some tea.

"I'm thinking too much."

"About?" Justice asked, sipping some tea.

"What will happen to us…" Violet said. "We can't live here. We don't want to be a burden. You work a lot and you have an important job." Justice smiled and hugged Violet.

"I do work a lot and I do have an important job…"

"Thre—Four children is a lot to handle. Tomorrow morning, I've decided, we'll be off."

"Vi--…" Justice sighed heavily. "There's something I must tell you… About your parents." Violet perked up. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped. "Your father…"

"Is…?" She bit her lip.

"Is…alive…" Her jaw dropped. She almost spit out her tea, and her eyes became watery.

"What?"

"When you were at Dark Avenue 667, do you remember going through a tunnel like shaft, ending up in your house's ashes?" Violet nodded slowly. "And do you remember that secretive doorman?" She nodded even slower. "Your father went into that shaft, and tried to get your mother to go down. She was too worried about you three and ran off. Your father raced after her, but she was no where to be found."

"And… And the doorman?"

"Ah yes." Justice said smiling. "That was your father." Violet started to smile, but quickly frowned.

"Why didn't he tell us!" She raged. Justice grabbed Violet's shoulders gently and sat her down.

"Shh…Shh… It's okay." She rubbed her back. "Don't wake up the others… Shh…" Violet jerked away.

"But this is an outrage!" She yelled. "A completely cruel act! We thought our father was dead all this time and we learn that he's alive now! Horrible timing! We've felt horrible for almost a year now, and he must have known what we were going through!"

"Shh!" Justice shushed. "You'll wake the others!" She whispered. Klaus, holding a sobbing Sunny's hand and rocking the baby in his arm came out of the shadows.

"Kla…" Violet started.

"Sunny heard you yelling, and started sobbing…Which woke me up… Luckily, Beatrice is a deep sleeper…" He said quietly.

"K…Klaus, I didn't…Didn't want you to hear this."

"But we just did…So…what now?" Klaus asked. Sunny continued to sob, but tried to stay quiet. Violet turned to Justice.

"You know where our father is, don't you?" Justice was quiet. "You do. Tell us! We have a right to know."

"He's just trying to keep you safe." She said.

"Keep us safe! Ha! Has he known where we've been!? Sunny nearly died! Violet almost got killed! All three of us have gone through dreadful and vicious things, which neither of us deserves!" Klaus yelled.

"Klaus, it'll be okay. Just—" Justice started.

"Okay!? Nothing in this past year or so has been okay! We never felt safe! We never felt okay! NOTHING was EVER okay!"

"Klaus!" Violet yelled. At this point, Sunny was crying so hard it was like her tears flooded the room. "Stop it." She said, gritting her teeth.

"Why! You know well enough that I'm absolutely right." He said. Violet reached to hold Beatrice and Klaus snapped at her. She took the baby anyways, for she was beginning to cry. Justice cleared her throat.

"To bed. We'll talk more tomorrow." Klaus glared at Justice but Violet pushed him to the room.

In the room…

"Sunny," Violet commanded. "sleep, now." Sunny nodded and lay down. Soon, she was asleep in her bed. "Klaus,"

"No, Vi." They whispered. "This is serious. Our father is alive. Alive, Violet! We have to leave."

"Klaus…" She paused. "You're...Your right." Klaus's eyes widened and he smiled.

"I'll get Beatrice and you get Sunny. Don't wake them. We'll crawl through the window. I'll open it. Keep them quiet. We're off." Violet followed Klaus' plan and kept them quiet. Klaus cracked open the window. Violet was nervous, but continued to sing a soft, gentle lullaby. Klaus stopped prying the window open and smiled as he turned to Violet. "Mom used to sing us that to us." Violet smiled.

"Yeah," she said quietly.

"You sound just like her." She smiled wider.

"Thanks." He smiled and turned around, continuing to pry the window. Violet turned and sang more.

"Got it," He whispered. "Grab Sunny and I'll get Beatrice." Violet nodded and did as told.

"Wait." Klaus turned. "Go out the window first and I'll lower Beatrice to you. She'll be safer that way. Then, I'll lower Sunny and I'll climb down." Klaus bit his lip, but nodded slowly. He climbed down and Violet lowered Beatrice. He rocked her in one hand, and Violet lowered Sunny carefully. He swung her on his hip as Violet climbed down. Violet took Sunny gently from him, and the runaways walked carefully. It was dead of night, and pitch black.

"Where we going?" A yawning young voice asked.

"Sunny!" Klaus whispered. "She's awake."

"Where we going!" She repeated.

"Good question." Violet said. Suddenly, something crunched under Violet's foot. It sounded like paper. Violet bent down to pick it up. "Something's written on it. Let's find a light somewhere to read it." Klaus nodded and walked behind a store building. There was a dumpster and a dim light. Violet nodded and unrolled the paper. "A couplet!"

"You'll run away in secret in the dead of night,

The Baudelaires are quiet, staying out of sight."

"Isadora!" said the little Baudelaire.

"Sunny! That's right!" Violet yelled. "The Quagmires!"

"Look!" Sunny yelled, pointing with one little finger and a white rolled up paper stuck in the brick. "Maybe poem!" Violet smiled and grabbed it. She unrolled it and read aloud.

"When we drive away in secret, you'll be a volunteer.

So don't scream when we take you, the world is quiet here."

"V.F.D!" Klaus said. "Duncan wrote that exact quote in his notebook." Klaus whispered. Violet gasped.

"They must be near, then!" She said. Klaus nodded and began looking around. "Another couplet!" He said. He unraveled the paper and read:

"Around the dumpster you'll see,

The Quagmires there, indeed."

"Dumpster," pointed Sunny. "Quagmires!" Sunny walked around the dumpster, but didn't see anyone. She shrugged and scratched her head. "No?"

"This dumpster."