This chapter comes a little twist. I'll start a little romance between…some…and some turns and twists within the group. Read on! - Benchwarmer

CHAPTER FIVE: We Are Orphans

Klaus grabbed Violet's arm and pulled her back to the Quagmires. "Let's eat," he grunted. Klaus sat Violet down between Quigley and Duncan, and he sat next to Isadora and Sunny. Isadora held Beatrice nervously, rocking her back and forth slowly.

"Nervous breakdown?" She asked almost silently, bouncing the baby on her knee and occasionally making funny faces. Klaus nodded carefully.

"She won't admit that we are orphans," he whispered. "What's for dinner?" He asked loudly, changing the subject.

"Well," Quigley said shyly. "We found about three dollars searching in that dumpster."

"A couple cents here and there," Isadora added.

"For dinner we found a burger bitten into a few times and a lot of fresh apples." Duncan said.

"There's an apple tree right around the corner!" Exclaimed Isadora happily. Quigley smiled.

"We split the burger in fourths, Sunny didn't want any. Each of us gets an apple." Quigley said.

"For the baby?" Klaus asked.

"Ah yes, good question." Duncan said. "With our three dollars, we plan to use at the general store down the road a bit to get some milk."

"But no money left!" Sunny exclaimed.

"Good point, Sunny." Quigley said. He grinned wide. "Duncan, Klaus and I got a job at the restaurant around the corner. Pay is four dollars an hour. We have a part time job each and only work four hours a day."

"Me?" Klaus asked.

"Well, yes. You could help raise the money too." Quigley smiled.

"Four dollars an hour for four hours is sixteen dollars! That means we'll make forty eight dollars a day!" Klaus exclaimed happily. Duncan nodded. Sunny smiled wide along with Isadora and Violet.

"Forty eight!" Violet yelled.

"That's great!" Isadora shouted.

"iFantastico!" Sunny screamed. Klaus smiled.

Maybe life wasn't too bad after all…

"cough He--cough Hello?" A man asked from around the corner.

"Is it…?"

"It couldn't…"

"Mr. Poe…" Sunny whispered. "Hide Beatrice! Hide all!" They jumped into the dumpster, all of them, and tried to not get as dirty as possible. They closed the gate without a peep and it suddenly was dark. Sunny held Beatrice close and tried to keep her away from the grime.

It was damp. Extremely. It smelled like old fish.

"cough Is there any--cough--one out here!" Mr. Poe screamed. The three triplets stared at the Baudelaire's, not knowing who Mr. Poe was or what he's done. Klaus gave them a signal meaning 'stay quiet, and it'll be okay' with his hands and his eyes. Suddenly…

"Wahh!!" The baby wailed. Sunny looked around frantically.

"Shh!" She whispered, "Shh!" She gently rocked her back and forth. Beatrice looked up at Sunny with wide eyes. She fell silent.

"Mama?" She asked quietly. Sunny's eyes saddened and she looked at Klaus and Violet. She tucked Beatrice under her torso slightly and held her close. They heard fading footsteps.

"I think he's gone," Quigley said.

"Klaus, you check." Sunny said.

"No way! He knows who I am!" Klaus backed out.

"I'll check," said Quigley, "he doesn't know who I am yet. I'll tell him I'm the boy down the street, merely picking apples if he spots me!" He lifted the cap off of the dumpster and checked out. "He's gone."

"Go out there and make sure!" Isadora said cautiously. He climbed out carefully and quietly. "We need a better home." Sunny nodded.

Quigley came back in a short while. "He just left," he said, "but we have to leave before he comes back."

"So heroic," Violet sighed. "So brave." Duncan grunted and they climbed out. They gathered their supplies and a couple bags full of apples and made their way to the beach. Duncan pulled Quigley aside angrily.

"Quit it."

"Duncan, we've had this talk before." Quigley said, pulling away from his grip. Klaus walked over there and pushed Duncan back.

"Klaus!" Duncan whispered.

"I've told you this before. Violet will pick whom she wants, and she's only fifteen so back off, Duncan." He grunted. "Walk." He demanded, pointing towards the group, now in a small cave like area far down the beach. Duncan walked off.

Klaus, too, had changed. Violet was getting older, and she'd always be older than him but he was very protective of her, not just Sunny. He nodded for Quigley to walk towards the group, though Duncan had snagged the seat next to Violet. As Klaus looked at her laugh at one of Duncan's jokes, he noticed that she seemed uncomfortable. The way she laughed was sort of a laugh to not hurt anyone's feelings, he's seen it a lot.

Violet looked up at Klaus and bit her lip nervously. Klaus started walking back.

"Hey, Vi, come here a minute!" He called. "I want to show you something." Without any hesitation, Violet rose up and walked towards Klaus quickly.

"Thank you!" She whispered.

"Okay, I'm going to sit next to Duncan, you pull the seat next to Sunny." She nodded and they walked back. "Hey, Duncan." Duncan squinted his eyes and smirked. "What's new?" He asked with a smirk in a way as if to say 'Yeah, I know you can't sit by her, back off'. Quigley passed out the hamburger slices and apples to them all. Violet peeled pieces off of the apple and fed them to the baby. Quigley looked up and smiled. She smiled back.

"I think Sunny needs to go to a school." Announced Violet. Quigley nodded.

"But where?" Klaus asked.