Diego POV

What?

'Cheese and crackers, Diego, you really joined the rabbit club didn't you? Babies freakin' everywhere.', Klaus spouted.

I looked around at my siblings, two of them holding newly born babies, two of them crouching down as newly made fathers, and absolutely every single one of them with their mouth gaping open.

'Surpised?', Lila said, smirking as Lila still wrapped her arms around Allison's neck. 'This is a sweet, sweet moment.'

'Is she lying, Diego?', Allison asked, though her voice was restrained.

'I'm not sure yet.', I said back, my voice on the verge of breaking down in stress and quitting altogether.

'He wishes I was lying, Allison.', Lila taunted, releasing her neck. Allison gasped in a huge breath, grasping around for her babies. Luther came to her side quickly.Lila made a sarcastic motion with her hand over her stomach, then smiled, and laughed. 'But I am very, very much so telling the truth.'

'It was one time…', I mumbled under my breath, confused.

'At just the right time.', she said, smirking again.

'She knew what she was doing!', Five shouted, his face growing angry. 'She's doing this to get leverage over you, Diego, you have to ignore her.'

I looked back at him, conflicted, trying desperately not to show it.

'Maybe. But I know you, Diego. You're too good to hurt your own child, aren't you?', she said, smiling evilly.

'Bluffing.', Klaus said, inserting himself into the tense dialogue.

'Stay out of this, druggie.', she said, turning to him.

'Hey!', Dolores said, hopping up, handing the baby to Five. A few minutes ago, she was too weak to move. Anger fueled her, and love for a friend. 'Call him that again.', she said, a death stare on her face.

'Whoa now, miss arsonist.'

Dolores came at her, wrapping a hand around her wrist and letting the flames loose, causing Lila to stifle a scream and groan out loud. She pulled away for a moment, and then turned back to me, trying to form a straight face.

'Dolores.' I said.

'Diego?', Five said forcefully, always ready to come to her defense. He eyed me, holding his baby tightly.

We all stood around, just staring at Lila as she stood confidently. I had never been more conflicted in my entire life.

'You know we made a deal, Diego.'

'What deal?', Vanya asked, standing to the side, Annie behind her hanging onto her leg.

'Yeah, Diego, what deal?', Luther said, his voice confused and suspicious.

Five eyed me even harder.

Lila's face lit up, and she clapped her hands together and held them there in front of her mouth.

'You mean he didn't tell you all?', she said, exuberant. 'Oh, this is rich.'

I shook my head. Frick.

'Little Mr. Diego made a deal with me, promised me to make sure these little kiddos never grow up.', she said. 'Snip them in the bud.', she said, using her fingers to imitate scissors.

'Is that true, Diego?', Klaus asked me, his face pained. I looked around at Allison and Dolores, whose faces looked hurt and betrayed.

I nodded slowly.

'How could you, Diego?', Dolores asked me.

'Because I can't let these kids grow up like we did.', I said, trying hard to justify my actions. 'We saw it on the infinite switchboard. Five's gonna' have these kids training in some dumb reboot of the academy. I couldn't let that happen.'

Five's face looked pleasantly surprised.

'And that's exactly why he wanted to destroy them. Selfish, is it not?', Lila said, with drama in her tone.

Oh heck no.

'Hey Lila, why don't we tell them the reason YOU wanted them dead? Why don't we do that?', I said, putting my hands on my hips, giving her a fake smile. Her face changed, her smile drooping. She shook her head slightly, only for me to see.

'Diego, stop.'

'Little miss Lila here got the crap scared out of her, guess why?'

'Diego.'

'Because she saw what these kids would do to her.'

'What do you mean?', Five asked, interested.

'She saw them destroying the commission.', I said, staring Lila down. 'Ripping her out of power.', I said, taking a step closer.

'Ending her, and everything she's in charge of.'

Lila looked utterly betrayed.

'How could you?', she mouthed to me, her eyes drooping.

'Yeah, you're not getting in the way of that, Lila.', Five said, smiling at her.

'You can only stop it if you stop me.', Lila said, spatial jumping over, ripping the baby from Five's arms, and then jumping away out of sight.

'No!', Dolores and Five yelled in unison, and we all ran out the door. Lila stood in the first bit of the waves, holding the baby up over the water.

'One step closer and the baby drowns.', she said, shouting from across the beach.

'I heard a rumor-', Allison started

'-that you brought me both of your babies.', Lila finished. Allison held them both, and mechanically started down the steps towards Lila. Luther took off after her as she walked, restraining her.

'Allison, Allison stop. Wake up.'

She stopped, staring into Luther's face, and after a moment she came back to her senses.

We all stormed down the stairs onto the beach, the wind and rain whipping around us and drenching us. I held onto Vanya's hand, as she was so light that the wind threatened to pull her away from us. Dolores looked absolutely terrified, and Five more tense than I'd ever seen him.

'You know what? Maybe she can just drown anyway.', Lila said.

And it all seemed to happen in slow motion. We all came running at her as she let the baby slip from her hands, and as we got nearer, the baby stopped falling. In mid-air.

And from its tiny chest came a blaze of fire in a twenty-foot radius, hitting Lila, steaming the waves around it, and then it fell into the water.

Lila fell back, her face and chest scorched.

Five, Dolores, and the rest of them ran to the baby, picking it up out of the water, rescuing it as it screamed and cried at the top of its lungs. I stepped over to Lila. She was limp in the water, her face destroyed, deformed, and the skin of her chest gone.

I grimaced down at her, crouching down. I touched her scorched face, her blood flowing onto my face. Ashes from her clothes washed away as the waves broke over her, crashing into me as I held up her head.

'Diego.', Five said, placing a hand on my shoulder.

'It's o…. over…n..n..now, i… isn't it?', I said, still staring down at her face.

'It is.', he said, crouching down beside me.

We rode out on the boat the next morning, the sky sunny now, but the water and beaches covered in debris. We'd packed up our things and got out of there. Just a few miles left until the next land.

I hadn't spoken much since last night. I didn't have much to say. But I had so much on my mind.

'Is this water deep enough, Five?', Vanya looked up, questioning him.

'Yeah, we can stop here.'

They all looked at me for a moment, silent, in expectation.

'I'll do it.', I said softly.

I lifted up a black body bag from the floor of the boat, holding it in my arms, and I stood for a moment.

And then, I dropped it into the ocean, and watched it sink down to the bottom, floating through the water.

'She's gone now.', I said, my voice calm.

'She is.', Dolores said, placing her head on my shoulder.

A moment of silence passed, nobody said anything.

'And my baby.', I said. That was the part that stung.

'It's okay, Diego. She was probably lying for leverage, anyway.', Five said.

Yeah. I hope so.

Dolores POV

Hargreeves Manor

Four Years Later

They all sat on the couch, messing with each other, squirming around, dressed in matching clothes. The photographer was getting really, really put out with them.

Annie was the only one who sat still, but occasionally turned to the fiery red headed little punk on her left. That was my Joan, or Jonesy, as we called her. I watched her as she played with one of her springy curls, smelling it. I didn't mind that she looked just like Henry. She was Five's daughter, through and through.

I had worried that he'd be uncomfortable raising another man's child. But, showing his true, soft colors, he had shown nothing but love and care, accepting her as his own. Just as he had said. And she was so very much like him. Sarcastic, self-assured, independent. And she was only four. It didn't matter that she occasionally scorched a couch or two on accident.

On Annie's right sat a shy little kinky-haired boy, with skin like caramel cream. One of Allison's twins, little Roman. He sat quietly, not squirming like the others, and yawned. His twin sister, to his right, tried to climb up the couch.

'Quinn!', he said, causing her to turn to look at him. He looked at her for a moment, his eyes lighting up.

'Please sit down, sissy.', he said, and then her eyes lit up as well. Like a robot, she sat down beside him quietly. Her hair, which was pulled up on her head into pigtails, swayed around in a draft which came through the room. Earlier, she had caught Annie in a game of tag, holding her over her head like a pillow. Annie had absolutely freaked out, probably traumatized now. Quinn had more strength than any body builder I'd ever seen (except for Luther), all packed into the unassuming little package of a toddler's body.

Annie looked over to Roman. His face lit up, and he smiled, his chubby little cheeks squishing up. He grabbed her hand with his, and they sat there and giggled.

'Lady's man right there!', Klaus said behind me, nudging Allison, who rolled her eyes and laughed. Over to the side of my redheaded child, sat a black haired boy, lifting a goldfish out of it's bowl, smiling as he brought the water it swam in through the air along with it.

'Kai, put Dennis back in the bowl, please.', Ben said, eyeing him and smiling.

'Okie dad.', he said, and then moved the whole blob back into the glass bowl, not a drop spilling.

Ben, having married his Hawaiian beauty, had contacted us several years back to let us know he had become a father to a little boy. We'd been on our way out to Hawaii to meet them, when Ben called and informed us that his wife had been in a horrible car accident, and was hospitalized. By the time we arrived, it was too late, and she was gone. Ben had moved back to the U.S with Kai, moving back in with all of us. He hadn't had a relationship since then, staying loyal to Auli'i, his first and only love. After that, he and Klaus had started a cross-stitching business, Klaus specializing in decorative pillows and Ben branching off and knitting baby and pet clothing. They were surprisingly successful, and now ran the business out of the basement.

Five walked into the room, holding a baby boy in each arm, propped up on either hip.

'Are they cooperating?', he asked, planting a kiss on my forehead as I grabbed one of the boys and holding him on my own hip.

'Well enough for toddlers.', I said, shrugging as I looked down at little Lucas. Five held Lewis, his twin brother. Their heads were covered in tufts of Five's dark brown hair, thick and fluffy.

'Kiddos, look up at me, and say cheese!', the photographer said, trying to get their attention.

They all turned to him after a minute, and some coercion. They looked straight ahead, and he snapped the picture.

'They're so cute, look at them.', Luther said, looking on the group in admiration as we all stood behind the photographer.

I bounced the baby on my hip, looking at them all. I nodded, not moving my gaze.

'Dangerous little farts.', Klaus said, shaking his head and laughing.

'You've got that right.', Allison said, her eyes growing wide.

Annie squirmed after the picture was done, reaching into her pocket and throwing on her signature pink sparkly sunglasses.

'Where are mine, Annie?', Joan cried out, and Annie pulled the purple pair out of her pocket. Kai kicked his legs around, and Roman and Quinn fell on the ground, rolling around wrestling.

I shook my head, smiling as Lucas gripped onto my finger, and I moved into Five's side, resting my head on his shoulder.

Diego breathed out as he stared at them firmly.

'Destined for greatness.'