(y/n) - your name

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I jolt up awake with a loud scream, gasping for air desperately and wheezing in a panic from the painful burn in my chest. I struggled to breathe when I cry out, not registering the soft touch of someone until I heard their voice. "Sweetheart, hey shhh, you're ok." I turn to the voice and see Five, his hair a messy bird's nest since I woke him up but he still had a soft loving look in his eyes as he held my cheeks and tried to help me calm down. Looking at him, seeing him right in front of me made my heart squeeze for some reason, a sudden wave of sadness hitting me and I burst into tears when I hug him tightly. "What is it darling? Bad dream?" I sob out with a nod, clinging to him tightly when he pulls me onto his lap and rocks me in his arms, pressing kisses to my head and I cry on his shoulder. "Want to tell me about it?" he asks and I was about to tell him but I struggled to remember what the dream was about. My memory of it faded away slowly and I couldn't get it back.

I just hug him back tightly as if I had lost him, sobbing in his shoulder. I was hurting, my heart was in pain and I didn't know why. All I knew was that I was terrified of losing him.

"I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere." Five whispers softly, a crack in his voice hearing up upset I was as he rocks me on his lap. "I'm right here, my love." I couldn't stop crying, couldn't stop shaking and his fingers comb through my hair as he tried to calm me down. "Do you feel me? My fingers, my hand?" he whispers in my ear as he gently runs his fingers across my neck, feeling his warm hand coax me to look at him as he wipes my tears away. "Can you hear me?" he coos softly and I nod as I lean into his hand. He presses kisses on my forehead. "Can you see me?" he asks, wiping the rest of my tears away so I can see him clearly and I nod. "Then I'm right here. You have me (y/n). I haven't gone anywhere." he coaxes me, tucking my hair back to see me and I sniffle as I start to calm down. "Do you smell the lavender and strawberry candle on the bedside?" he turns so I can see the blown-out candle and the smoke wisping in the air and I nod, relaxing even more. "There she is." Five smiles at me as I hug him and he brings us back down on the bed to lie down. "You're ok. You're present. I haven't disappeared."

I let out a shaky breath of relief, burying my face against his chest. "You're here... I thought I lost you..."

"Is that what happened in your dream?"

"I... maybe... I don't know... it all feels... so faint..."

"Well lucky for you, I'm still here and kicking." I smile at his joke and I nod. Five gently sets me down on the bed and I frown as he gets up to leave, quickly holding onto his arm which makes him chuckle.

"I'm just going to go make some hot chocolate for you sweetheart." he caresses my cheek but I don't let him go, tearing up again and he falters seeing how scared I was. He smiles softly and pulls me up to take me to the kitchen with him. I hug his back and press my face against it as he made my hot chocolate. He sets two mugs down on the coffee table, one with his decaf coffee and one with my hot chocolate. "Sweetheart, you're going to have to let me go if you want your drink." I huff and pinch his side as I let him go, picking up my cup and sighing in the bliss of the sweet warmth when I take a sip before sitting down on the couch.

"You always make the best hot chocolate." I hum as he holds my waist after he nestles down next to me, pressing a kiss on the top of my head.

"Well, it's just your Cadbury hot chocolate mix. It's easy enough to make your favourite drink. Simple and sweet. Like you, emphasis on the sweet, obviously." I roll my eyes with a smile, taking another sip. "There's my beautiful girl. I missed your stunning smile." he beams at me as he takes my hand, kissing my finger with the promise ring before kissing my jaw and I blush as I nestle against his chest.

I relax further in his arms when he pulls me onto his lap, the dream fading away and the weight melting off my shoulders the more I forget about it. "Are you going to work today?" I ask and Five nods his head, littering kisses down my neck.

"Unfortunately yes. I have a recon mission today." that immediately piques my interest and I look up at my boyfriend in excitement which makes him chuckle, brushing his thumb against my cheek.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm infiltrating a cult group."

"What character are you going to play as!?" I jump, interested in learning as much as my love could tell me. He purposely told me vague information to keep me safe and I never pushed him for more. 

As long as he comes home back to me safe and sound.

"A man called Jerome."

I burst out laughing. "Jerome!? Where did you even get that name? Don't tell me you're gonna wear a moustache too!?" he raises a brow and I gasp. "Oh my god! You are!? I need to see this!"

"In due time princess. You need to go back to sleep. It's too early for you. You'll be too exhausted for work today."

"Awe, but I wanted to know more about Jerome. Like his hobbies and what job he has." I tease Five as he rolls his eyes and downs the rest of his coffee, picking me to carry me to bed and setting me down on the mattress gently.

"Finish your hot chocolate and go to sleep baby." I pout at him but do as he asks and he hums in approval before taking my cup away to put it in the sink. He comes back after and nestles in bed next to me, wiping some of the hot chocolate from my lips with his thumb and pulling me back down to sleep. "That's my good girl." he coos as I yawn, feeling sleepy after having my drink.

"Five..." I mumble as he hugs me, pressing petal soft kisses on my neck.

"Yes, my love?" He whispers, leaning back to look at me as he bumps my nose against mine and caresses my cheek.

"I think Jerome actually suits you." I smile and he grins.

"Does it now, sweets?"

I nod, playing with his long hair. "Do you remember what name Grace gave you?" I ask and he purses his lips as he tries to remember.

"It's... been so long... I can't remember, to be honest, love."

"Are you sad about that?"

"Not really... I know somewhere out there she gave me a name, a name that gives me a more kinder human identity but..."

"It's not you now." I nod. "But if somehow you found out, would you change your name to the one she gave you?" He shakes his head.

"The name I have now has so much history, it's part of my life, my identity for over 50 years..."

"Plus I like your name. It's unique." I beam and he laughs softly, a soft endearing look in his eyes.

"Then that's the only reason I need to stay as Five." I blush as my love leans down to press a soft kiss on my lips, holding my chin to meld his lips more against mine. He pulls back just a little, the both of us smiling against each other's lips and he pulls me close to cuddle me. "(y/n)..."

"Hmm...?"

"Will you be alright today?" Five asks as he pulls me close against his chest tightly, rubbing my back to soothe me.

"I'll be fine at work-"

"-no I meant... will you be alright for the birthday party today?" I nod sleepily. "Are you sure?"

"I'll be a-ok..." I say drowsily and he kisses the top of my head, lingering there as I feel him smile against my hair.

"Alright, my love. If any time you need to leave, let me know ok." I nod and he hugs me tighter.

"Okie dokie." he mumbles and he laughs softly.

"Oh, my cute little sweet girl."

I hum to the music that was playing through the house on my speakers, in a more upbeat mood today as I got ready for the party. Kitty Five was purring on my lap, his tail swishing as he made biscuits. He had gotten a lot bigger now after a year, a more ferocious opponent to piss off my boyfriend even more. I finish up my light makeup and brush out my hair, perking up when I hear the door open which causes my kitty to yowl knowing who it is when I hear his voice.

"I'm home!"

"Hello! In the bedroom!" I call out and my kitty jumps off my lap to get some distance away from my love.

"Hey, sweets." I smile as Five walks over to me and kisses the top of my head, his hands massaging my shoulders lightly. "You cut your hair!" he beams, kissing my cheek and I smile.

"Hello to you too. Yeah, had to get a chop." I let my love play with my hair which was styled in a wolf cut, just level at my shoulders. I had to restyle it since it looked like my other self got this cut some time back so I needed to freshen it up and have it shorter.

"You look so lovely, (y/n)." My sweet assassin kisses my shoulder, walking in front of me and caresses his thumb on my cheek. "You feeling better?" He asks softly, tucking my hair behind my ear and tilting my head up by my chin to see me clearly.

I nod. "I am. I'm excited actually." This makes him smile in relief, pecking my nose.

"I'm glad to hear it, sweets."

"You changing?" I ask he nods but he suddenly takes out a box from his bag and passes it to me first.

"This is for you, sweets."

"What is it?" I open the box, my eyes widening when I see a handgun inside and I gasp sharply. "Five!"

"Just for your protection!" he quickly clarifies, chuckling at how shocked I was. "And, you have been practising every day for a little over a month now."

That was true. Ever since his office tour, Five made me train with him no matter what. Whenever we were free morning or night, he would have me practise with him in the training room at his office. 

He really was an amazing teacher.

"I know but we have one already-"

"-this is strictly yours. It belongs to you. This is the one you have been training with. You know every in and out of this very gun. It's for your protection (y/n). In case I'm not there to-" he breathes out shakily and I narrow my eyes at him with worry. "If something happens and I'm not with you, if I'm somewhere else on a mission or at the office and I can't get to you quick enough-you have this. Please."

I get even more worried about his tone and from his words. As if he was preparing for the worst.

Did something happen?

"Alright." I nod and get up from my vanity to keep it under my side of the bed, hidden next to my bedside table. "There, you and I know where it is then." I turn to look at Five and he breathes out in relief, motioning me towards him and I stand up to head towards him. He holds my head and leans down to kiss my forehead, not pulling away until a few seconds later.

"Now, how's the preparations for the party, sweets?"

"Uh, we don't need anything else right? Besides the gifts? Everything we need is in the car already?" I ask and my love nods. "Alright. I'll just go put the gifts in the car." my sweet assassin nods and passes me his car keys, pressing one last kiss on my shoulder before grabbing his clothes to change. I grab the gifts and head down to the car to put them in the backseat, coming back up after and putting some fresh food and water for Kitty Five since we would be gone for a while. I head back into the bedroom to change and I blush brightly seeing Five put on his suit pants, coughing out suddenly from the lack of air.

He keeps changing but I could see him smirk, putting the rest of his clothes on. "Don't be shy, sweets. I know you like what you see." he teases, turning to me as he fixes his cuffs after putting his shirt on and winks at me. I stick my tongue at him and go to grab my clothes, matching with him with my own pair of black slacks, and a white collared shirt but with a vest on top. It's December and I was being hit with the horrible winter cold again.

I see Five handing me my shoes and coat after he is all dressed and I smile at him as he pecks my nose. "Thanks, handsome." I tease, loving the way his ears turn pink. I put my winter coat on and bundle up to survive the cold and he did too, putting on his coat. "Ok, we all good to go? We have everything?" my boyfriend nods as he pockets his keys, wallet and phone while I grab my bag packed with all the essentials.

"Ready to go, my love?" my sweet assassin asks and I nod before he takes my hand and takes me out of our apartment. He locks the door and takes me down to his car, opening the door for me to get in before going around to the driver's side as we buckled up and drove off. "It's a bit of a drive so you can sleep for a bit. I know you must be tired from work today." Five says as he reaches over to hold my hand, bringing it over to his lips to kiss the back of it and I smile at him. I settle against the seat comfortably, holding his hand as I dose off.

I don't know how long I slept for but I feel someone gently shake me awake and I open my eyes slowly to see my love brush his finger down the bridge of my nose to get me more conscious. "Are we here...?" I yawn and he laughs softly.

"Yes, baby. We're here now." he unbuckled my seat belt and got out of the car as I regained my senses, getting out too and groaning loudly from how cold it was.

"Fucking hell! I knew I wouldn't be able to survive winter here!" I shudder violently as I hugged myself to avoid freezing to death from the cold winds blowing over me. Five laughs at my misery, wrapping his arms around me and holding me tight by his car in the deserted parking lot.

"Sweetheart, it's not that cold." I give him a pointed glare, still cold under my layers along with a specifically designed winter coat while he simply wore his suit and a normal black coat on top.

"Yes, it is!" I sigh out, blissfully taking in whatever warmth I can get from the sun high up in the sky that finally peeks out from behind the clouds on this unusually bleary day.

"Sooner we head inside, sooner you get warm, my precious princess." my boyfriend teases me and I roll my eyes at him. He holds me tight to his side noticing my grumpy frown and he coos, leaning down to press a quick kiss on my shoulder and my cheek to have me not upset at him anymore.

"I just don't understand how you're not cold." I pout at how easily he could withstand the cold like it doesn't affect him at all, unwrapping my hands from myself and hooking my arm around his.

"It's called adapting (y/n)." Five chuckles but I notice the flash of dullness in his eyes and I knew he thought about the future apocalypse he was trapped in.

"I guess you're just hot-blooded." I quickly change the subject, earning that sparkle in his eyes again from my compliment and I smile seeing him grin.

"Mhm, and you're the reason why." my love muses, tilting my chin up to press a sweet kiss on my lips.

I could feel the heat rush to my cheeks as I kissed him back, gasping lightly when he suddenly tugs me closer by my hips. "Behave." I fluster as I smack his chest lightly and he snickers against my lips. The wind suddenly blows over us and my hood falls back, shuddering against the cold dropping on my nose and I slowly lean back to see snow slowly falling around us.

"It's snowing!" I squeal out lightly, in awe of actually seeing snow fall for the first time ever as I leaned my hands up to catch the snowflakes. "I've never seen snow falling before!" I show Five the snowflakes in excitement, noticing the warm look in his eyes as he looked down at me. "Five?"

"You're just so precious." his ears turn pink from his words and I giggle at his sudden shyness, leaning up on my toes to kiss him again and he wastes no time kissing me back. My arms hung around his neck as he picked me up by my waist, my heart racing at the fact we were kissing beneath falling snowflakes. He was the one to pull back first, nuzzling my nose. "We really should head inside or I won't be able to control myself." he huffs, setting me back down on my feet and I nod with a flush, helping him grab the gifts from the backseat of the car and carrying them inside after he locks the car.

I sigh in relief the minute we were inside, the warm AC heating me up as we walk further into the building. The first thing that hit me was the screaming of children and I was immediately irritated, grinding my teeth at these little shits running around me and in my way while I stumble to avoid stepping on them. This chipper electronic pop song was playing over and over again through the speakers, the blinding glowing and LED lights giving me a headache already. There was a mess of kids all clustered together in an area with streamers, balloons, tables, chairs, decor and bubbles spewing from blowers.

"This is... wow..." I grimace at how chaotic it was.

"It's a bit... much, isn't it?" Five whispers to me and I nod.

"Are we even at the right place in this entire building? It's a complete jungle zone. I don't even know where one place starts and the other ends." I mutter.

"There's Diego and Lila. I guess the others haven't arrived yet." My love says, nodding to the couple trying to control a bunch of kids.

"Yikes. Did Diego let himself go? Lila looks exhausted." I grimace as my love slowly leads us to his brother and his wife. The married couple looked like they were arguing and Five clears his throat to catch their attention while I hide behind him.

"Five!"

"Little shit!"

I peek from behind my boyfriend and Diego and Lila widen their eyes as they run for me. "Wait no!" I squeak when Lila picks me up in her arms to hug me with a loud squeal and Diego ruffles my hair. "Let me go! Stop manhandling me!" I huff and they laugh, Lila setting me back down so her husband could pick me up to give me a hug.

"There's the crazy lady." He pats my head as he steps back after setting me back down and I poke his stomach.

"How's that dad life treating you?" I tease as he swats my hand off while his wife takes the gifts from us to put them on the table with the other gifts before coming back to us.

"I didn't think you both would come." Lila smiles happily, holding my hands in excitement.

"We thought it was about time to reconnect. But don't think you're all forgiven." Five says sternly and the couple nods, still excited we are here.

"I didn't get to say this last time I saw you but I'm glad you're safe (y/n). When we didn't see you 6 years ago, when we first arrived here..." Diego says, turning to his brother remembering how heartbroken he was.

"We all were worried. I knew Five here did everything to find you again and I'm glad he did." Lila finishes off after her husband, squishing my cheeks. "Look at you know. You've grown!" She grins and I sputter from the slight pain in my cheeks.

Indian aunties as usual.

"Alright, let her go." Five says, gently pulling me back to his side.

"So you both got hitched! Congrats! And on the three kids!? Five was explaining to me that you have an older daughter and twins!" I exclaim, excited to catch up with them and the couple smiles.

"Pulled a Vegas-style marriage and got hitched the second we dropped here." Diego says. "We were relieved that our first kid Lila was pregnant with was safe after the whole thing of our life force being sucked away by dad."

I nod and turn to Lila as she shows me her kids playing around with the others. "We named our oldest Grace Stanley Hargreeves." My eyes soften, remembering the boy.

"You named her after your mom and Stanley..." I smile at Diego knowing that was his wish to remember the mother that raised him to be so loving. He was a perfect father and I knew that the moment he started taking care of Stanley in the last season.

He smiles with a nod. "The twins are over there." He points to the little ones sitting together with a bunch of other little babies with a grownup watching over them. "Coco and Arjun."

"A boy and a girl!" I gasp.

"You wanna meet them?" Lila asks Five and I and we both nod, following the parents to Grace first.

"Kiddo! Meet your uncle and auntie. Uncle Five and Auntie (y/n)." Diego introduces us and the girl runs over to say hello in excitement. She had a cute toothy smile and lovely long hair.

"Go on, give them a hug." Lila says and Grace rushes over to hug me.

"Auntie (y/n)! Uncle Five!" I blink in surprise that Grace knew our names, looking at the child who hugs my legs and looks up at me with that beautiful toothy grin.

I smile and lean down to pick her up. "Hi there Grace. Did your parents talk about me and Uncle Five a lot?" She nods quickly.

"As bedtime stories!"

"Oh wow! Must be some awesome stories then! Especially about your uncle." She giggles as I gently pinch her nose, glancing at my love who looks at us dearly. "It's lovely to meet you in person, sweets." She smiles brightly and says the same thing before I set her down on her feet and rushes over to Five who kneeled down to hug her. My heart squeezes painfully seeing the way he hugs her tight, pulling away to brush her hair back with a bright smile as he talks to her and passes her another small gift from his pocket. He looked at her so dearly when she thanks him and runs off to play with the kids and I suddenly feel like shit, my mood dropping knowing I can't give him that.

Lila and Diego take us to see the twins, suddenly passing Five their daughter and me their son. I glance at my boyfriend and he blinks at me too, a light flush on his cheeks as he stares at me with the little boy that coos and plays with my hair. I fluster and smile at the little girl in my sweet assassin's arms who plays with his fingers. The little boy in my arms smiles up at me and babbles when I brush my thumb over his cheek gently, him nibbling on my finger. Lila's parents suddenly take the twins from us and Five falters, looking at the little girl sadly that waved goodbye to him and he waves goodbye too.

Diego and Lila sends us off to have some fun at the party but I felt even more shit seeing the way Five reacted to holding the little girl in his arms, him glancing at me and his smile falters. "Hey, what's wrong?"

I shake my head and smile, lying through my teeth. "Nothing. Everything's fine. Let's go get a drink." I pull him with me to the buffet table and he gets a beer while I get some juice.

There wasn't much for us to do except roam around and explore the jungle gym so Lila introduced us to her family and extended family that were at the party. This was normal for us desi's to have all auntie and uncles be called to a gathering. Five and I managed to pull away from the chaos and stand beyond it to get some peace and quiet for a while, just watching everything from the sidelines. I glance at him to see him watching over Grace and the twins as they play and it hurts me more. I felt even more miserable and heartbroken.

I suddenly hear voices arguing and I look over to see Luther dragging Ben into the party, tugging on my boyfriend's sleeve to grab his attention while trying to distract myself with the whirling voices making me feel like a terrible girlfriend. "Yes, sweetheart?" He looks at me and I point at the two bickering males and he sees them too. "Ah, looks like they're all starting to arrive. And looks like he got into some trouble." My love points to Ben's monitor on his ankle.

"No fu-freaking way! Boys got an ankle monitor!" I gasp. "I need to know why he was in jail!"

"Let's go talk to him them." Five muses, grabbing another beer and cracking it open before we walk over to the miserable man. He notices us and clearly groans in annoyance, rolling his eyes.

"Well fuck you too, you little shit." I hiss and he laughs.

"You really want to swear in front of these kids, (y/n)? Thought you were supposed to be all goody two shoes." He hisses and I glare at him.

I notice him flinch and I narrow my eyebrows, noticing him look down at my arms. "Chill, I'm not your (y/n). I'm his." I point to my boyfriend as he passes Ben the beer.

"Right..." he clears his throat and sighs out, taking a swig of the beer, glancing at Five as he holds me tight to his side with his arm around my waist. It was as if the boys were staring each other down. "So what's with you two? Got hitched like those miserable idiots?" He nods to Diego and Lila running around like headless chickens.

"What's it to you?" Five asks and Ben just raises his hands in defence.

"Just asking!" He mumbles, staring at me expectantly for some reason. "That ring on your finger is throwing me off." He points to the promise ring I was wearing. "Thought you two made it final."

"You wanna know about the ring? I wanna know about the ankle monitor." I point to his jewellery and he laughs.

"Same old defensive (y/n). You know, I've missed that. A lot." Ben looks me up and down and I glare at him.

Five narrowed his eyes, his hands fisted and I knew he was gonna start something violent so I quickly held his fists to calm him down before answering myself. "Whatever twisted, perverted relationship you had with your (y/n), is not gonna happen with me. Never in a million years so drop it."

"Alright I get it." he rolls his eyes and my boyfriend calms down just slightly.

"So what was it? Ponzi scheme? White-collared fraud?" my love asks.

"Crypto exchange. Web 3.0 baby." Ben smirks and I facepalm.

Not the crypto fad.

"Feds only went after me because I'm an outsider. A fucking maverick like Elon."

The hell he mean by that?

Does he not have his legal citizen documents to be here?

Five never really explained what the family did to become actual citizens or even have some sort of 'roots' to get a proper ID like everyone else. He said he got one for everyone and himself so I assumed he forged the documents to make it happen.  

"Well, that and you bankrupted 100,000 people." my boyfriend explains and I look at him in confusion.

I guess he was keeping track of what his family was up to.

But damn! 100,000 lost their money to this fucker!? Shit...

Ben scoffs. "The whole thing was a witch hunt."

"Yeah, well, say what you will. It's good to have you back." my sweet assassin says, lying through his teeth to be nice to his brother and not cause a scene but I could see there was a hint of truth when they clink beer bottles. "Cheers."

Our Ben or not, he must still be relieved to have a version of him still here. Even if his actual brother is gone...

"Fuck!" I shriek when someone suddenly pops out from the ball pit were were leaning against to scare us, seeing Luther grinning in achievement at getting someone frightened. A.k.a, me. Five held me tight knowing I scare easily and he rubs my chest as I glare at the ex-monkey boy. "Don't scare me like that Luther!" I hiss and his eyes widen when he processes that I was there in front of him.

"(y/n)! Oh my god!" he quickly scrambles out of the pit and runs around to hug me, picking me up and spinning me around.

"Luther! Put me down! You're covered in germs from the ball pit!" I yell out and he puts me down with a sheepish smile.

"Sorry! I just can't believe you're here! Look at you! You've grown up! You were just a baby before!" he shows me how I was shorter before compared to him, pinching my cheeks.

I ignore that since the timeline and sequence of events were too messed up to correct him, gently swatting his hands away. "You look normal now. Still buff but your monkey-powers are definitely gone. You look really good!" I give him a thumbs up and he beams happily at my words.

"Why thank you!"

"Stop being so pathetic ape-brain." Ben groans, drinking his beer.

"Oh come on. It's been years since we've all been together like this." Luther exclaims.

"Ever think maybe there's a good reason for that?" Benny boy says.

"Where's Viktor?" Five asks and I realise I still haven't seen the rest of the family yet either.

"And Klaus. I miss him!" I say excitedly.

Allison is still on my shit list.

Luther hesitates for a second when the smaller brother missing from the last two was mentioned. "Oh, uh, he said he was coming."

"What about Allison?" my boyfriend asks and I grumble as I cross my arms and he chuckles lightly at my reaction. "Oh, be nice, sweets." he whispers in my ear, pinching my cheek.

"Oh, well, she's usually a no-show, right?" Luther clears his throat, looking unsure. "Maybe it's better that way."

Yikes, is the whole family against her? I'm not surprised actually. After what she pulled last season, she's on everyone's shit list.

"Wait! You're going to love the surprise I have for you both!" Luther suddenly says as he points to both Ben and me, running off to the buffet table, talking to a woman and bringing her over.

"No way." Ben gasps, dropping his beer when he recognises the woman. "Sloane!" He rushes over to hug her the second she gets to our little group. She grins as she hugs her brother, waving over to me over his shoulder. "You're actually here! I thought-"

"-we found each other a year after you all came to this timeline." Sloane says as she pulls back to hug Luther by his side, looking up at him happily and at her brother as she holds his hand tightly. "Luther told me what happened to you all and I'm so sorry you had to go through that."

"Took her some time to believe me but she did!" Luther smiles down at her.

"I'm glad that you're here Sloane. Luther would've been lost without you." I smile and she beams at me.

"Oh my sweet girl, I missed you (y/n)!" She scoops me up in her arms to hug me tightly. She swings me around like Luther did and I wheeze for her to put me down.

Why does this woman have incredible strength!?

And what's with everyone picking me up!?

"You're ok right?" She looks over me, running her hands down my arms and turning them over to make sure I was ok.

"She's gone Sloane." She smiles bittersweetly but knows this is for the best.

"As long as you're ok, (y/n)." She holds my cheek and turns to Five. "As long as you're both ok." She holds his hand and he smiles at her. "Now, why haven't I become an auntie yet?" I choke on my breath lightly at her sudden question, my boyfriend and I blushing.

"We're taking it slow." He answers quickly.

"And what about you?" I quickly divert the attention on us back to Sloane and Luther and she grins as she skips back to him. I notice the ring on their fingers, glad to see that they were still married.

"Our two monkeys are playing with Grace." Luther explains, holding a gentle hand on Sloane's stomach and I gasp.

"You're having your third!? And you have two kids already!?"

"Two boys. We're hoping our third is a girl." Sloane grins, holding Ben's hand when he softens at the news.

"I'm an uncle...?" She nods at his words. "I didn't know... if I never... I should've been there for you and for them..."

"You're here now Ben. That's all that matters. Would you like to meet the rascals?" Sloane asks us all and we nod, following her and Luther to where their kids are, mucking around on the monkey bars. The oldest son looked like Luther ordering the other kids around while the younger son looked like Sloane and was peacefully playing with the balls.

"How old are they?" I ask.

"5 and 3. Marcus! Chris! Come here!" Luther calls for them and Ben looks at Luther in shock. I could see the hatred and annoyance in him leaving when he realises the boys were named after his brothers.

"You..."

"I wanted to honour them. I know you would've done the same." Luther smiles, ruffling his kid's hair as they stand in front of him and Sloane. "The oldest is Marcus, and the youngest is Chris. Boys, say hello to your uncles and Auntie. This is Uncle Ben, he is your mama's brother. This is Uncle Five, he's my brother. And this is Auntie (y/n), she's Uncle Five's girlfriend."

"Hi!"

"Hello!"

The boys grin and wave with beautiful toothy smiles. Ben picks up Marcus to talk to him and Five picks up Chris as he plays with his fingers. The boys were complete opposites, Marcus being energetic and talkative with Ben while Chris just lay sleepily in Five's arms with his head on his chest. The little boy looks at me sleepily as he holds my fingers tightly. He was so sweet, yawning in my love's arms as he rocks him to sleep while I brush my finger down the little one's nose.

"Oh my god, I've been trying to get him to sleep for ages!" Sloane gasps seeing her youngest fall asleep easily. "You both would be amazing parents." I clear my throat and look away when Luther takes Chris from Five to put him in his stroller to sleep.

"Marcus!" Little Grace runs up to drag him to play with her and her other friends after Ben sets him down on his feet again. We all watch the kids go off to play and it was a surreal feeling. Everything felt so normal yet so different and unreal. Like, is this actually happening? Is this real? It felt like a dream. All of us went to sit down to catch up for a while, talking in our little group while we drank.

I let the family talk as I lean against Five in slight boredom, his hand petting my head. I've honestly lost track of time here in this twilight zone of mind-numbing noise.

I watch Diego and Lila for a bit, seeing them struggle with the party. "I'm going to help out Diego and Lila for a bit. They seem to be having a hard time right now."

"I'll come with you." my love says as he stands with me, the both of us walking off.

"You didn't have to-"

"-I just needed to be away from the two idiots fighting about Ben's parole office and curfew." I chuckle as Five holds my waist when he talks about Luther and Ben bickering, him pressing a kiss on my cheek. "And, I'd rather be in your company instead, sweets."

"Awe, you're so sweet." I mock playfully and he laughs softly as we head towards Diego. "Hey, you need help?" I pipe up.

He nods his head quickly, sighing out in relief. "The kids are destroying the food and drinks and we need more."

"Well, do you have more?" I ask and knife boy nods.

"Yeah we have boxes of food in the back, I just need help bringing them out."

"Ok, we can do that." Five says and we follow the overworked father into the back kitchen where the food was. There were boxes of food and drinks everywhere, plastic washing tubs filled with cold drinks on ice too.

"That's a lot of food." I breathe out.

"They have a lot of kids." my boyfriend reminds me and I nod, thinking that this was enough to feed everyone, considering how many people were at this birthday party right now.

More might even come later.

"Ok boss, what do we need?" I ask Diego and he starts listing off things we need. The boys carry a couple of boxes each out and I pick up two on each shoulder. My work and this body alone, for some reason, had gotten stronger so picking up boxes like these was not too hard. I don't know if the me beforehand did a lot of physical labour but it was damn worth it to see the look on Five's face. He had turned around to get more boxes but caught sight of me with my sleeves rolled up carrying four boxes, his mouth falling open as he watches me walk towards the buffet table.

I laugh softly at how starstruck he was, practically having heart eyes for me as I put the boxes down with ease on the table. "Woah..."

"What?" I chuckle, taking the juice boxes out and setting them neatly before ripping the box flaps to flatten them.

"Just... damn mama." I blush brightly from his words.

"Oi, what did I say. Behave." I hiss softly and he blinks at me with a flush but a smirk appears on his face soon after. "Behave." I warn him sternly.

"Yes ma'am." he winks, walking past me to get more boxes of food. I do the same as well, catching glimpses of Five and his brother talking. I pick up bits and pieces of the conversation about knife boy's resume, the CIA and his many different skills. My boyfriend and I finish up helping Diego and head back to sit with Luther, Sloane and Ben again with fresh drinks in hand.

"What was that about?" I whisper to my love as I nod to his brother and he realises what I'm talking about.

"Diego wants to become a CIA Agent."

"I guess that hero complex is still going strong." my sweet assassin immediately covers his mouth with his hand to muffle his laughter.

"Damn right, it is!" He chuckles. "He doesn't understand that the CIA is more than being some sort of James Bond agent on the field getting bad guys. It's a lot of investigating and research. I don't think he has the brain capacity for that."

"Five!" I gasped, smacking his arm and he chuckles. "That's still your brother! What have you been telling him when he keeps asking to join!?"

"I just say that I sent his resume up the ladder. It's not."

"Oh my god."

"But," my love sighs out, looking at his brother's family dearly. "I don't want him to ruin this." He nods at the way Diego picks up Grace and spins her around happily and I notice how happy he looks with his children, picking up his twins too. "This can crumble way too quickly. I've been in this kind of job long enough to keep a barrier between work and life. I'm worried Diego will fall into the deep end and neglect his family since he's not used to it. Being an agent does that to you if you don't catch on to it quickly. It eats your time, makes you push people away, forget the world and just focus on your missions. I don't want that for him. I don't want him trapped."

"And you're not trapped either." I hold Five's hand tightly and he looks at me sadly. "You know I'll be here to pull you out."

"I know, but it's not fair to you-"

"-Five listen to me. No matter what, I will always pull you out of the deep end. You are not alone anymore. I won't ever let you be alone like that again. I'm holding onto you and not letting go. Ever." I say sternly and I see the way his eyes glaze over, holding back his tears to not break down in public. "I won't let you fall, I won't let you be lost again. Do you hear me?"

"I do." He breathes out, bringing my hand up to kiss my knuckles dearly. "I do, I really do." He takes in a deep breath and lets it out to calm himself down, holding my hand tightly. He leans his forehead against my hands, whispering thank you again and again.

I hold his cheeks and tilt his head back up to have him look at me. "Why don't we try to enjoy the party a bit more? You're here with the family now, let's make the most of it. Ok?"

He nods. "Ok."

I smile and pull him up with me to grab some snacks, trying to ignore the gossiping family members on the side that were related to Lila. I could understand what they were saying and they were talking about Diego's side of the family. I was getting angry at the way they described the Hargreeves'.

Do they not have anything better to do!?

I was about to tell them off when I hear a familiar voice. "Crazy!"

I gasp and turn around, seeing one of my favourite gaybies! "Klaus!" I squeal in excitement and he rushes forward to hug me tightly, almost knocking me over if it wasn't for Five holding me up.

"I missed you Crazy!"

"I missed you too!"

Klaus leans back and beams at me. "Look at you! You're gorgeous honey!"

"Klaus." Five clears his throat and that's when the taller brother notices my boyfriend who stands next to me, smiling kindly at his brother. "Cinco! You're here too! Oh, look at you both! You're so cute! How's it going!?"

"You look really well, Klaus." I smile at him and he holds my hands in appreciation, but that's when I realise the latex gloves he was wearing.

"So, how long you been sober now?" I blink at my love in surprise, this being obviously unknown news to me.

"Oh, uh, coming up on three years on January 15th, but who's counting, right?"

"Klaus! That's a big achievement!" I gasp, squeezing his hands in support and congratulations.

"That's truly amazing." Five says sincerely. "Really, good for you Klaus." he nods and Klaus smiles brightly at his brother.

"Thank's Five." he looks at me too, smiling at the both of us. "I appreciate it, thank you both." I smile and pat his hands.

"Klaus?" I look up and see Luther and Ben also notice their brother. "Hey, buddy!" ex-ape-man throws the pit balls he was playing with away in excitement and quickly walks over to us.

"Hey." Klaus smiles.

"Good to see ya! Come here!" Luther opened up his arms for a hug but Klaus steps back from him, his hands together and shaking his head.

"Sorry. Don't touch. Spasibo." Klaus whispers.

Luther looks so dejected but goes along with it anyway. "Right, yeah, of course."

Five walked over to drag Ben towards us as and he groans, explaining to the fake sibling about Klaus. "He is a germaphobe now and extremely sober."

"But you hugged me...?" I mumble in confusion and Klaus pats my head.

"Cause you're my favourite non-sibling." I beam happily at his words before he turns his attention to Ben and his eyes light up in excitement to see one of his favourite siblings. "Benjamin!"

"Klaus." Ben just repeats, exasperated.

"Wha... when did you get out?"

"About an hour ago, but I'm strongly considering robbing a bank to get back in." Ben rolls his eyes and walks off.

"Rude little shit." I grumble, annoyed with his attitude.

"And who are you?" one of the aunties suddenly speaks up when they see Klaus, a table filled with desi gossipers and I already get a bad feeling about where this is gonna go.

"Yeah, which sibling are you?"

"The one that ended the world?

"Oh no, that's Viktor." Klaus says as he waddles over to talk to them. "He's the one that ended the world twice."

"Tell us about Allison." one of the uncles asks and I pinch the bridge of my nose in annoyance at how nosy they are.

"Oh, yeah, Allison. She set up this whole timeline. She stole her daughter from another one, and then there's Luther!" Klaus points to his brother who walked past the table to get a drink and he waves at the table. "Luther used to be part gorilla and now he's an exotic dancer." this catches the attention of the aunties who fawn over him while he walks away.

"He what!?" I exclaim when I overhear the information about Luther, turning my head to Five to get confirmation from him and he nods with a light chuckle.

"I thought it was an odd job even for him but it pays the bills." He shrugs.

"Luther!? A stripper!?" I gasp softly. "I mean... from what it looks like, I guess he has the body for it but damn..."

I guess not every Hargreeves is doing well in this timeline...

"Is Sloane ok with that?" I ask and Five looks over at the happy couple.

"Well, I think he does it as a side thing for extra money. I'm pretty sure he's a stay-at-home dad while Sloane works."

"That's actually so cute! I can totally see that. Luther cooking and looking after the kids. He's always wanted his own kids to dote on." I grin, loving the idea that Luther was such a softie for his kids.

"Which one went to prison." another uncle asks and I listen in.

"Oh, that's Ben. Benny Boy!" Klaus calls to him and he flips him off. "Yeah, I love you too." I frown at how hurt Klaus sounded.

"And who's the really screwed up one, yeah?" an auntie asks and Klaus looks at them in confusion, wondering who they meant. "You know, the thieving, cheating addict?"

I could see the hurt in Klaus' eyes when he realises they were talking about him. "Oh..."

"What a scumbag..."

I grit my teeth at their words. I was ticked off enough as it is with the music, the screaming, the numbing chaos, and Ben with his attitude. "That's enough!" I snap and the table of aunties and uncles jump, all looking at me.

"What is wrong with you-"

"-what's wrong with me!?" I scoff, laughing dryly. "What's wrong with you!? You're my problem! The fact that all of you have nothing better to do with your miserable and lacklustre lives than to talk shit about other people who have achieved more than you could ever dream of! Is your marriage so shitty and hanging onto loose threads that you disrespect other people and backtalk them to put them down just to make yourself feel better as worthless beings who regret every decision they make!?" I exclaim and they look at me with wide eyes. "You, this stupid desi community talking shit in a language, that yes, I can bloody understand think it's so important to put face and one-up each other constantly! Don't think you're so smart talking in your own language! Find a life instead of breaking someone else's!" I yell and they whisper to each other in their language.

"Kī uha sānū samajha sakadī hai?"

"Āmi pāñjābī nā'ō hatē pāri tabu'ō tōmākē bujhatē pāri!" I snap back in Bangla and they gasp realising I was desi too. Five pulls me away before I can start a fight and I grab Klaus by his sleeve to pull him with me as we all huddle around with the Hargreeves away from the gossiping low lives.

"Did you just tell off Lila's family!?" Ben bursts out laughing.

"Shut the fuck up asshole." I hiss and he rolls his eyes, laughing as he goes to get a drink.

"You ok?" My boyfriend asks me softly and I breathe out to try and calm down, nodding.

"Now I am yeah." He nods and lets me rest on his chest knowing the noise is becoming too much for me, petting my head as he leans his chin on top of my head. He was the only one who could ease me and I sigh in relief from his touch. I suddenly hear gasps and I look up to see the Hargreeves brothers staring somewhere and I turn over to see Allison being dragged in by Lila and Sloane. Every single one of us immediately turn to Luther who was a little shell-shocked. We all are wondering what he's gonna do.

He looks nervous.

I grow worried, wondering if he's ok after what she had done to him. Did someone even talk to him about her forcing him with her powers? Did someone even consult him or check if he was ok?

"Hey, uh, Allison!" He says awkwardly.

Oh please don't push your trauma away just to be nice Luther! 

This family needs serious help.

Luther stammers, unsure of what to do as he walks up to her, noticing none of us are really giving her a warm welcome either. "Hey." He smiles, trying to lighten things up. "So glad you made it."

"Just... thought I'd pop in and say hello." She mumbles back, awkwardly smiling and waving. "Hello."

"Yeah. Great. It's, uh, been a minute, huh? Since we've..." Luther says.

I groan in second-hand embarrassment and hide my face against Five's chest. "I can't watch this." He chuckles lightly.

"Yeah... um..." Allison didn't know what else to say, looking around briefly. "Is Viktor here?"

"No, no. He's not here yet, but, he said he was coming, so..."

"Yeah..."

"Ok, see you later." Luther mumbles as Allison walks off.

"Finally the torture is over." I groan and stand back up straight, Five rubbing circles on my lower back with his thumbs.

Allison suddenly freezes when she hears me and turns to me, her eyes wide. "(Y/n)! You're here! I thought-"

"-yeah alive and breathing." I mumble.

"No, I meant-I'm glad you're ok. We thought you were gone and I'm sorry-"

"-it's not me you have to apologise to, Sexual Assaulter." I roll my eyes and she immediately looks hurt. "Wonder if Claire or Raymond knows what you did to Luther." I look at my nails and she purses her lips knowing I hate her and she walks off.

"That was harsh Crazy, even for you." Klaus gasps.

"And yet she hasn't apologised to him yet. Has she Luther? The six years that you all have been here?" I turn to ask him when he rejoins the group and he goes rigid.

"I mean no-but she didn't mean to-"

"-it's not right Luther. It's not fair to you." I frown and he looks sad as I pat his arms. "You deserve that apology. You're worth more than someone telling you what to do and controlling you. You're free now, you are your own person."

"I guess you're right." He nods with a smile.

"She did what!?" Sloane hisses, her eyes blazing. "What did she do to my husband!?" she shrills as she storms off after Allison with Luther running after her to calm her down before she gets into a fight with his sister.

The siblings all decide to split off and do our own thing now.

Five and I sit down at a table, me wondering how the hell these kids still had energy. "Sweets." he says softly to catch my attention.

"Hmm...?" I look at my love who chuckles softly, his thumb brushing over my knuckles.

"You're falling asleep, my love."

"Am I?" I blink, rubbing the back of my neck.

"Your eyes are sleepy (y/n). I think we should go home. You've had a long day." My sweet assassin muses as he kisses my hand and stands up to pull me up.

I guess I really was sleepy when I lean into his arms. "I really don't have the energy like I used to." I yawn while my boyfriend rubs my arms. The both of us were gonna go to Lila and Diego to say goodbye but they were fighting about the piñata and cake again. We decided to not stress them and watch from the sidelines as Diego lines up the kids quickly to do the piñata. We would leave after the birthday girl cuts her cake.

Knife boy spins his daughter around, everyone clapping after 6 spins as she gets ready to hit the piñata. We all cheer her on as she swings at the piñata aggressively with the baton.

"Definitely Lila and Diego's kid." Me and Five whisper to each other. The piñata was stubborn and didn't break, even the both of us getting into the action and cheering Grace on to break that stubborn colourful horse! "All right! Let's go, Grace!" We clap loudly for her, her swinging more aggressively but she gives up.

"Good effort!" Five says, ruffling her hair after she passes the baton to another kid, her going over to each of her aunties and uncles to hi-five them.

"You made it easy for the other kids now with your strength." I wink at her and hi-five her as she giggles before she runs off to her dad.

The kids all take turns to go at the piñata but no matter what happens or hard they hit, the damn thing won't break. "This is not good..." I whisper to my love and he grimaces when another kid fails to break the piñata.

"Wow. They really can't break that thing, huh?" Luther mumbles out next to me with Ben.

Diego suddenly speaks up so mysteriously about East Side piñatas being notorious for their difficulty. "What's nut job on about?" I ask the brothers and my boyfriend and they shrug.

"Screw this. I'm starving!" Before I could even process what was happening or even stop Luther, he charges forward and starts punching the piñata like a madman. All of us gasp in shock at what was happening and the children were screaming.

"Luther!" I gasp and cover my mouth in shock when he starts biting the piñata! And then on the sidelines, Lila and Diego suddenly start to bring in the cake in the middle of this chaotic scene and I instantly get a bad feeling seeing how close Luther was to the cake. I jump forward to snatch the pinata harshly to the side before it hits the cake, Luther bumping into Ben hard and both of them falling onto the floor but it left the cake safe and intact.

I swear the entire thing was in slow motion, everyone watching in fear and shock and surprise and other emotions I couldn't tell you cause I was fucking flabbergasted! We all watched the cake wobble in Diego and Lila's hands since they got scared but it steadied. We all stood quietly around the cake, letting out a huge breath of relief that it was safe and I whip my head at the idiots to scold them but Sloane was already going off at her husband and her innocent brother.

Everyone takes a breather and Diego and Lila decide to end the party early straight after their daughter cuts the cake, setting the cake on the table. We all sing Happy Birthday to the little girl, her blowing out her candles in excitement and we all clap. Diego and Lila usher everyone out with a plate of cake, kicking everyone out that wasn't family. It was just us Hargreeves and Lila's family as we all drop into the chairs in exhaustion. I hated how messy the place was and decide to help the couple clean up, the rest of the siblings doing the same as we talked and reminisced about family chaos.

"God knows what would happen if the cake fell." I tease Luther and he complains that he is sorry.

Everyone else teases him too and he looks at his wife who was laughing behind her hands. The kids were snacking on cake and talking with each other while us grownups cleaned up the place, put all the rubbish in the bin, and helped to stash the extra food and whatnot in Diego's van. Lila's family decide to go home early and us Hargreeves sit on the floor, laughing softly.

"Damn, you both know how to throw a party." Allison chuckles at Lila and Diego.

"I don't know how you four do it." Ben groans, nodding to the two pairs of married couples.

I was yawning and leaning on Five, him running his fingers through my hair. "I think it's time for some of us to head out. Someone can barely keep her eyes open." He teases me and I smack his arm lightly before he stands up and holds my hands to pull me up on my feet. "This has been fun but let's not make this a recurring thing. See you all in another 6 years." The siblings all beg us to stay for a bit but my love pulls me out of the building after we grab our stuff, getting in the car and driving off. We were quiet for a while, just trying to process everything. "You ok?" My sweet assassin asks me as he glances at me, holding my hand and I nod when I turn to look at him. I yawn and lay my head back against the seat to rest and he reaches up to brush my hair back, caressing my face.

"That was a mess..." I mumble and he chuckles in agreement.

"I was wondering when the classic Hargreeves chaos was gonna kick in. Thankfully no one was hurt. Emotionally." I hum. "Baby, you're tired. Go to sleep ok." I look at my boyfriend drowsily as he rubs my thigh. He turns the heater on for me as he coaxes me asleep. "I'll wake you up when we're home ok." I nod.

I doze in and out of sleep for a long while until I feel the world shift around me, groggily opening my eyes to see Five pick me up in his arms and takes us to the apartment when we got back. I hug him as we got into our apartment and he gently sets me down on the bed, watching him roam around as he got my clothes and a towel for me knowing I wanted a shower.

"Up we go." He smiles as he pulls me up by my arms and takes me to the bathroom. "You ok?" I nod with a yawn. "Alright, sweets. See you in bed then." He kisses the top of my head before heading to the other bathroom to freshen up while I took a shower.

I feel better and more awake after the hot wash and deep clean, drying off and putting my pjs on before putting my clothes on a chair and falling into bed face first with a groan. I settle under the blankets and Five comes back in his sweatpants, crossing over to the bed and getting in behind me. I immediately turn to hug him, yawning.

He holds me tightly, his fingers combing through my hair. "Go to sleep, my love. I have you." I slowly fall asleep again but my boyfriend speaks up. "(Y/n)?"

"Mhm..."

"I have a mission tomorrow, the same group as today. I'll be gone the entire day."

"Can I come with you...?" I mumble sleepily.

"Baby, it's not safe."

"Please..." I mumble and I hear him sigh.

"Alright, my love."

The words don't process and I just hum as I fall asleep.

"Baby, wake up."

I groan as I pull the blankets over my head. "Is that you Five, or my damn alarm?" I hear him chuckle and I get my answer.

"My love, come on, time to get up."

"Whyyyy?" I complain and he pulls the blanket down to see me, smiling down at me. "I'm tired." I huff and he laughs softly, brushing his fingers against my cheek and brushing my hair back from my face.

"I know but didn't you say you wanted to go on my mission with me?" I blink at him in surprise, sitting up quickly and he chuckles as he holds my arms to steady me on the bed.

"You're letting me come with you!? For real!?"

"I can't say no to you." He softens, rubbing his thumbs against my cheeks. "Plus, it's always good to have a second pair of eyes for detail in case I miss things. This mission is mostly safer. We're just going to a group meeting. You won't be in danger."

"Are you sure!? Really!?" I buzz in excitement and he smiles at how thrilled I was, pressing a kiss on my cheek and squeezing my hips.

"Of course. Now, how about you get ready for me? I'll have your breakfast ready, sweets." I nod quickly and jump up to brush my teeth and freshen up in the bathroom. I dry off quickly and rush into the living room where Five was setting a plate of bagels and cream cheese for me.

"Do I need a disguise!? Oh! What's my cover story!? Do I get to be Jerome's partner!? Do I get a new name too!?"

"Easy sweetheart." My love snickers softly, walking up to me and sliding his hands around my waist beneath my shirt, slowly pulling me towards the table. "But yes to all. I got a wig from the agency and I figured you might do your makeup magic." I shiver from his touch as he runs his hands up and down my back before guiding me to sit down on a chair. "The meeting isn't until later this early evening so we still have time to ourselves." He whispers in my ear as he stands behind my chair, his hands moving to rub my thighs and I breathe out shakily from his light kisses he peppers down my neck.

"You get worked up way too easily..." I hum softly, closing my eyes and tilting my head to the side to let him leave open-mouth kisses on my neck.

"You know I can't help myself..." I whimper softly as he nips at my skin, me reaching up to tangle my fingers in his hair.

"I wish, baby, but I have some work I need to catch up on. A few reports I need to proof read-mhm..." Five presses his kisses down my shoulder and back up to my jaw, holding my chin and tilting my head back to capture my lips with his.

I quickly get lost in the kiss, moaning softly against him as he deepens the kiss and tilts his head to press more into me. I tilt my head and part my lips for him, his hands guiding me back up on my feet so he could set me on top of the table. His lips never break away from mine, chasing for more and kissing me deeper with a lustful frenzy. He groans from hearing my muffled moans, hooking my thighs around his waist and pressing his chest against mine. I had to hold myself up on the table against an arm from the way he pressed harder against me, kissing me deeper and deeper that had me absolutely breathless. I had to pull back for air but he dives back to kiss me deeply, slipping his tongue into my mouth to taste me eagerly and I whine softly from the way he tangles his tongue with mine. I was heating up really quickly, shivering from the twisting pleasure in my core as he subtly grinds his hips against mine.

"Five-" he cuts me off with another deep kiss, holding the back of my head and kissing me passionately as his tongue presses against mine. I moan out, delirious from the heat and lust of him dominating me and making my brain fogged with these kisses. I had to pull away for air again, panting roughly and he leans down to kiss my neck again. I whimper as he sucks and bites his marks on me, holding the back of my neck to nip my skin harder. "Baby, please..." I whine out softly and he finally pulls back, holding my cheeks in his hands and staring down at me with a dark heated look in his eyes. His lips twist up in a cocky smirk, stealing a quick peck from me and stepping back to grab his keys. "What-"

"-I'm gonna do a quick grocery run."

"You fucking asshole!" I throw the tissue box at him and he laughs as he dodges it, knowing he had me worked up to blue-ball me. 

He knows I can't get off without him!

"I just needed some quick sugar to get some energy for this quick errand, something to keep me motivated so I could come back to you and finish what we started." He purrs softly and I fluster.

"Just... hurry up!" I huff, all grumpy now as I eat my breakfast while my asshole of a boyfriend laughs and leaves the apartment. He was gone for about an hour while I did my work on my laptop with the TV playing a show in the background. As soon as he came back home, he walked straight for me and carried me to our bedroom. After our little... fun rendezvous, we started getting ready for the meeting.

Five helped me with the black wig to try and make it as natural as possible, him getting dressed while I did my makeup to try and subtly change my appearance. I wore a simple black skirt, white blouse and brown leather jacket, while he wore a white shirt with a plaid shirt on top and an army jacket. He had his jeans on and his shoes, me snickering when I see the sunglasses hanging off his shirt.

"Going for the Top Gun look are we?" I grin knowing he probably got inspired from the movie we watched a while back.

"Too much?" He asks and I shake my head.

"It's enough that it's ridiculous but no one will question it." He rolls his eyes with a smile at my words.

"You have your gun sweets?" he calls out and I nod, slipping it on a thigh strap he got me, setting the gun in place beneath my skirt. "Atta girl." he hides his on the strap on his back behind his shirt, concealing it with his plaid shirt. "Ready to go?"

"Yep!" I grab his hand as we leave our apartment, wearing sunglasses and walking to the nearest bus stop instead of taking our car to be less conspicuous. "Your moustache." I whisper to my love since he forgot to put it on. "Here, let me." he hands me the stick-on and it makes me chuckle at how shoddy his disguise was. I put it above his lip and he smiles at me, fixing his little cap he was wearing as I brush down the fake moustache. "I'm surprised no one questioned you with this on." I hum and he holds my waist as I hold his cheeks.

"What, you don't like it?" Five winks at me. "Don't want me to grow out my moustache?" he teases as he rubs his face against my neck and cheek.

"Hey! That tickles!" I whisper yell to him and he snickers. "And to be honest, I'm not sure. I like you as you are now. You're very handsome clean-shaven." I brush my thumb against his cheeks to feel the light stubble.

"But what if I want to grow out one?"

"Go ahead. I want to see what you look like with one."

"You'd still think I'm handsome?"

"I'll always think you're handsome." I smile and peck his lips, giggling as his fake moustache brushes against my lips. "Maybe don't grow it out as bushy. As this moustache. I can't kiss your lips." I peck his lips between each sentence.

"Anything for you, sweets." he grins, pressing one last kiss on my lips before our bus arrives and we get on to get to our destination.

The ride was a bit long so I just nestled against Five until we got there, him leaning his chin on top of my head. We got off the bus once we arrived, walking into the building in front of us. I held his hand tightly and stuck to his side, him squeezing my hand back tightly while he led me up the stairs to where the meeting was. It hadn't started yet and people were mingling about, talking around the tables of drinks and food. We decided to make some coffee, listening in to what everyone was talking about until we split apart into different parts of the room to drink our coffee and eavesdrop subtly. The meeting started and we sat next to each other, listening to the host as they introduced the meeting and welcomed us for coming. They introduced themselves and the reason for this meeting before letting the people here have the floor to tell their stories.

"My name is Gus." everyone greeted Gus and said hello. We listened to him about searching for the truth and finding this group. He talks about how this timeline is wrong and others agree, him saying how he could come here and say things freely. "I could say Sir Reginald Hargreeves is actually an alien who is secretly grooming a cabal of teenage super soldiers."

"Damn, he hit the nail on the head." I snicker as I whisper to Five and he squeezes my thigh in response, a cheeky smile on his face that he pushes away to keep blank.

"And now, I have hope. 'Cause I know a cleanse is coming."

And this is what makes me worried.

Another apocalypse...?

I look at Five and he had the same idea. I hated seeing the sad defeat in his eyes.

We clap, the host thanking Gus before he turned to Five. "How about you? Got anything you wanna share?"

Five hesitates but breathes out. "Yeah, sure." He clears his throat. "Hi, my name's Jerome." Everyone says hello and my love holds my hand to introduce me. "This is my partner."

"Hi, I'm Sasha." I wave and everyone greets me.

"I'm-we're still new to all this," my boyfriend glances at me. "but I can tell you folks, what you're talking about is real. You're not crazy." He sighs. "I know because I've been to other timelines. I don't look it, but I'm 64, recently turned 64 this year in 2025. I spent 45 years lost in a future apocalypse." I squeeze his hand tightly and he squeezes me back. "And I was involved in the Kennedy assassination. All of that's unravelling now. I don't know what's real and what's not anymore. I feel like I can't trust anybody. All I know is I'm glad to have found you all, to have found my partner. In all of this, she's been by my side, in all timelines. She always finds me and keeps me safe. She's the only thing I know is real and true, the only one I can trust." And for a moment there, I knew Five was genuinely talking, not acting as Jerome, but actually talking as himself as Five. For a split second I could see how lost he was again and it breaks my heart. "That's it. That's all I got..." Everyone gives him a round of applause.

The next person speaks and the host next to Five leans over to whisper to us. "You wanna hear some real shit? I'll take you both to a real meeting." We nod and listen to the rest of this meeting until we break away for beverages and snacks. The ladies all come to me and coo at how romantic me and Jerome are, saying how cute we are together.

They ask if I always manage to find him in every universe and I nod sheepishly. "There you are, sweetheart. Sorry I'm late. I was looking for you everywhere." I smile as I hear Five before I feel his hand on my waist, looking down at me and I know it was a cover.

"You found the bathroom?" I ask and he nods. Obviously he went to stake out the office of this place. My love pulls me away from the gushing ladies to talk to the host who slips us a piece of paper with a time and address on it for the real meeting later tonight. "Time to dip?" I whisper and he nods.

"Time to go. We can't go home, in case we're being followed. So unfortunately, we're going to stay in a motel until the meeting tonight." my boyfriend pulls me out of the building as we walk to this motel and I scrunch my face in disgust.

"You're joking? A nasty motel!?" I hiss softly at him and he looks at me in apology.

"Sorry, baby. They're the only ones that take cash and no ID to book a room."

"It better be a nice motel! Not the ones you get murdered in!" I cross my arms and he chuckles softly.

"I promise, it will be nicer than those dingy rundown shabs. There's a pool, a gym, a buffet restaurant too." He tries to appease me.

"Not like we have time to use those anyway... it's the room I'm worried about. The bed especially." I huff. "I don't want no blood stains, any stains or bodily fluids on the mattress and no bedbugs!"

"I promise baby, top of the art motel. Checked the room myself too before I woke you up this morning." I soften at how thoughtful he was.

"You did?" He nods with a smile. "Ok, I trust you." He kisses my forehead happily. We catch a bus to wherever this motel is, hopping off at our stop and he leads me into the compound to our room. He holds my hand tightly and I stick close to him as he takes the keycard out and unlocks the door before we head in, him locking the door after. I stand by the door and let him do his usual field checkup, making sure there were no tracers, trackers or cameras in our room. He's always this diligent but also in a way is a little paranoid and I can't blame him after everything he went through.

"All clear." He nods with a sigh and I close the curtains before we start to take our disguise off. Well, mainly my wig.

"Ugh, these things make my head itch." I card my fingers through my hair, dropping the wig on the table as my love takes the moustache off. He sits down on the bed next to me and I lean over to kiss him sweetly which makes him smile, raising a brow at me when I lean back. "What? I couldn't kiss you with that bushy worm on your face." I chuckle as he laughs, holding my cheek to pull me in for another kiss, pulling me closer when he grabs my waist.

"God, I love you." he mumbles against my lips, pressing a heated kiss on my neck after as he holds my jaw.

"Baby, as much as I love you, we are not doing anything in this rank motel room." he snickers but nods, pecking a quick kiss on my lips before pulling back.

"Understandable, love. Are you peckish? I can order takeout and we can watch some films while we wait."

"Mhm, not crazy hungry. More sleepy to be honest."

"I woke you up too early today?"

"No... just tired..." Five chuckles and nods.

"We'll take a nap after we eat then." I nod and he orders some gyoza and Pad Thai to share on his phone. We rest against the headboard as I lay on his chest, watching some cartoons until our food arrives and I help put his moustache back on. My love slinks outside, keeping the door shut and getting the food, waiting until the delivery guy is out of sight before he sneaks back in to lock the door. 

"Yes!" I was excited for my gyoza and he was eager to have his Pad Thai, feeding me every now and then if I let him have a few of my pan-fried dumplings. We eat and move to rest in bed again after we were done. Mostly me laying against his chest since I didn't want to rest my head on the bed.

"All right, just be cool, Jerome and Sasha. If anybody asks, you're with me." The host from the meeting explains as he leads us up the stairs to the real cult meeting after Five and I arrived at the building. 

I smooth the simple black dress I wore before we entered through the open doorway, stopping Five to fix his tie and patting down the collar of his suit which makes him smile at me softly. We made a quick stop at the shops to get new outfits for this meeting since I figured it might be a little fancy and his Top Gun outfit would not help him blend in. "You'll be ok." he whispered and I knew he figured that I was nervous, seeing how fidgety I was while trying to fix every aspect of my appearance. I was already not great in social groups so faking a persona to infiltrate a cult was a big step out of my comfort zone. "I'm not leaving your side." he pats my thigh beneath the dress, my gun strapped there and he nods in assurance. "Plus, you look lovely." my love winks and I roll my eyes with a flush. He gives me a second before I nod and he guides me into what seems like an apartment with his hand on my lower back. I blink in surprise to see that it was lowkey like a fancy party, with people mingling and drinking champagne. 

It was almost... innocent?

The host closes the door behind us and grins at us, nodding to the room. "These are the real Keepers. Best of the best." 

The host walks off to talk to someone and I scan the room until I spot someone very familiar, hearing Five scoff and I figured he saw who I saw too. "Your sister-in-law is here." I whisper and he nods.

"Excuse us, Larry." my love says before he pulls me towards Lila, walking past her to the table behind her but she clearly notices us.

"Will you excuse me just a second?" Lila says to the group of people she was talking to, approaching us as we grab stickers and markers and walking off to somewhere more quiet. "You blow my cover, I'll rip your balls off, Five." Lila turns to me and gives me a bright smile. "Hi sweetness, what are you doing here? It's not safe for you."

"I wanted to come." I whisper to her and she narrows her eyes at my boyfriend who rubs my back.

"I've got her covered." we put the stickers with our fake names on. "Plus, you're going to blow our cover."

"Nice moustache, by the way. What are you supposed to be? A Greek serial killer?"

Five chuckles sarcastically. "I'll have you know this is top-of-the-line horse hair."

"Ew, really?" I grimace and my boyfriend shrugs. "Ok, but what's with the wig? It looks so fake... like burnt fuzzy string beans." my love clears his throat to not laugh at my question towards Lila's wig and she rolls her eyes.

"Yours isn't any better 'Sasha'." she retorts back and I stick my tongue at her which she does the same.

"The real question is, what are you doing here, 'Nancy'?" Five mutters.

"Let's just say the transition from full-time assassin to full-time caregiver to 3 small children and one chunky husband is no picnic." Lila sighs and I feel bad for her as she downs the rest of her champagne. "I needed to get outside the house, ok. I saw a sign and took a chance. It's cheaper than therapy. But you know, these losers might be onto something."

"If everyone can take their seats, the presentation's about to begin." some guy looking guard announces.

"Come on." Lila urges us and Five holds my lower back as we sit in the far back row, him sitting between us girls. We see some old looking man and woman walk into the room and Lila gasps like she knows them. 

"Who are they?" my boyfriend asks and his sister-in-law raises a brow at him in surprise.

"You never heard of Gene and Jean? Sure you're part of the right CIA?"

"Just spit it out."

"Okay! Gene and Jean started the first chapter in Clovis, New Mexico. Since then, the movement has been everywhere."

Ok, so which is Gene and Jean?

The lights dim and the projector turns on as Gene and Jean stand behind the lecture. "Wow. Wowie! I mean, holy shit! Pardon my French, but look at all these beautiful shining faces. It is too much. Thank you for being here. We all have a big night planned, because tonight, we will be discussing... 'The Umbrella Effect,' and how I believe we can return to a restored... and correct timeline."

Lila and I look at Five and he blinks as he stares at the presentation. "Holy shit..." I mumble out and he turns to me.

"Do you know anything about this?" he whispers and I shake my head.

"Nothing. I have no clue about this. This is... it's as if the fourth wall is breaking, this is strange." I mumble back.

"Now, what do we mean when we talk about the Umbrella Effect?" the slide flicks to a comic book that existed during the original timeline with the Umbrella kids being famous. "Well, some people refer to it as 'timeline sickness.'" The three of us glance at each. "These artifacts from other timelines... Like the shared memories so many of us have experienced, huh? Yup." The slideshow continues and another picture shows up of the Umbrella Kids figurines. 

Five purses his lips, his hand gripping my thigh and I reach down to hold his hand tightly. "A dapper dandy holding an umbrella, standing on the grassy knoll."

Holy shit, that's Reggie during the JFK Assassination!

"An obscure sеx cult called 'Destiny's Children.'"

God, Klaus why.

 "A litter of child superheroes in short pants, from which we derive the name of this phenomenon, the Umbrella Effect." 

"Question is... who benefits from covering this up? The elites, of course!" 

I gasp and quickly cover my mouth when I see the next slide, an image of Reggie and his wife. Lila and Five quickly turn to me. "What!?" they ask and I point to the lady.

"That's Abigail, Reggie's wife. He has been trying to bring her back to life since the very beginning. He's actually done it!" I whisper back. "I'll explain more later about her."

"These artifacts are proof that we're living in the wrong timelines." the slideshow continues to show images about the original timeline, the Umbrella Academy prams that babies were strolled in, the Commission briefcase, Viktor's book, DVDs of Allison being a worldwide actor. "And they're the key to bringing about the Cleanse."

"What the hell is the Cleanse?" Five asks.

"No idea, but shut your mouth." Lila whispers.

"Your whisper-" I quickly cover my boyfriend's mouth tightly to shut him up before he gets us caught and he blinks at me in surprise while I stare him down.

"Don't even think about it." I hiss softly and he relents. 

The presentation goes on smoothly with no one being suspicious of us. We stay around for a bit after the presentation was over, leaving when others do and the three of us order an Uber to take us far away from that whole mess of a party. The driver stops in front of a cafe, Lila, Five and I scrambling out to head in. 

I sit down with an exhausted sigh at a booth, holding my head in my hand and my love rubs my back. "Do you want anything to eat, sweetheart?" I shake my head and he nods, heading to the front cashier to order whatever he wants with Lila. 

They both come back, Lila sitting down next to me with her cup of coffee and my boyfriend sits in the booth in front of me after he sets down my cup of hot chocolate. "Thank you." I smile at him and he holds my hand to kiss the back of it lovingly, pushing a plate of powdered donuts for us to share if I wanted any. "Ok, so Abigail... where do I start..."

"Whatever you know about her helps, love." Five reassures me and I nod.

"Ok well, you know how Reggie is an Alien? He wears a mask-" Lila and my love cough into their coffee when they heard me. "Five, you know this-"

"-not about them wearing human masks!?"

"Damn, we all are just freaks of nature, huh. Apple doesn't fall far from the tree." Lila mumbles.

"Good thing, you're still human." I correct.

"Fantastic..."

"Anyway, the Marigold, from what I can remember in one episode from the first season, was from their world. Reggie releases it and Abigail is dying, well soon to be dead? That same Marigold impregnants women that was never pregnant and lo and behold, Umbrella Academy kids amidst the other unexptant 47 pregnancies. I think Reggie has been trying to revive his wife this entire time, from the beginning of the show. That's probably what he was doing in the last season when he was trying to suck the Marigold out of us." the three of us shudder at the memory. "That was his wish but Allison had hers come true instead."

"Can't believe the old man was doing all this for love." Five sighs out.

"Apple doesn't fall fa from the tree." Lila muses, bumping my shoulder with hers and I blush as she gives my boyfriend a thumbs up.

"Yeah, commendable for his loyalty but its shit how badly it impacts everyone." I shrug. "Also, Abigail is who Luther was protecting on the moon. After his whole accident of being half monkey to stay alive, Reggie sent him to the moon for that important mission. To look after her basically in a way."

"Wait, what do you mean Abigail was on the moon!?" Lila asks.

"She was frozen... damn whats the word. My brain isn't working right now-"

"-cryogenically frozen, sweets." 

I smile at Five. "Yes! Thanks love." he winks at me with a grin and I giggle. "So yeah, she's alive now. Which makes sense as to why we have a big jar full of Marigold! Reggie released it because she was dying but since she's alive and well now-"

"-he never released it. No pregnancies, no super kids, no academy..." my boyfriend realises and I nod.

"Bingo!"

"So this timeline is hero free?" Lila asks. "But doesn't that mean us Hargreeves wouldn't be alive? No births, no us? Everything we did just would never had happened?"

"I mean, we came from another timeline so that makes sense as to why us we wouldn't have roots-actually, that's contradictory since Lila clearly has her parents." I raise a brow. "Wait, how does that work?"

"You're right... it shouldn't." Five mutters and I lean back in my seat, scratching my head. I look out the window as the ex-commisioners talk and I blink in surprise when my vision fissures. The world outside suddenly tilts sharply for a second, turning into tv grey static before going back to normal.

Ok, I'm really too tired for this right now.

"I can't think right now..." I mutter as I drink my hot chocolate and my love pets my head.

"Look, if these artifacts are from different timelines, and now they're showing up..." Lila starts.

"It's possible the old man's reset didn't take." Five sighs softly, his thumb gently brushing beneath my eyes knowing I was getting tired from how sleepy and non-talkative I was right now. I just let the ex-commission assassins talk.

"What does that even mean?"

"I have no idea. Look, whatever this is, don't say anything to the family just yet. All right? Not even Diego."

"Absolutely not. He thinks I'm at book club. It's just easier that way."

I snicker. "I didn't peg you to be a bookclub kind of girl." 

Lila shrugs before getting out of the booth. "I'm just gonna hit the loo." 

Five and I nod, him picking up a powdered donut to take a bit out of it and I chuckle seeing the powder on his lips and moustache. "You had to pick a donut that makes the most mess out of anything."

"They're delicious!"

"Classic investigator treat." I roll my eyes with a smile and stand up to lean over the table, taking a napkin to gently wipe his lips. He smirks at me, his eyes looking down and I look down to where he was staring and I scoff at him, chucking the napkin at his face for blatantly looking down my dress. 

He laughs softly. "I'm sorry, sweets. I couldn't help myself."

"Keep telling that to yourself."

"What, can I not admire my girlfriends very beautiful figure?"

"Buttering me up doesn't help." he pouts and I couldn't help but reach over to hold his cheek, him leaning into my touch happily and looking up at me softly. I chuckle before standing up to lean down and peck his lips. "Mhm, very powdery." I chuckle and he grins up at me mischievously. "Five, what are you plann-" I gasp when he shoves a donut in my mouth, making me eat a piece but he gets up and leans forward to kiss me. I hum softly in the sweet kiss, his hands holding my cheeks to tilt my head up more as his tongue laps up the powdered sugar on my lips.

"Oh break it up you two!" we pull back with a surprise as Lila comes back and we sit back down with embarrassed smiles. "You know what, I should actually get back home. It's really later."

"That's a good idea." I down the rest of my hot chocolate. "I'm beat as well."

"Sweets-" I tug on my boyfriends arm, wanting to go home. "Alright, baby. Let me just finish my coffee-" I book an Uber and bid Lila goodbye, Five finishing up his food just in time for our drive to arrive. We get in and I sigh in relief of being able to go home, pulling off the damn wig I was wearing. "Go to sleep, my love. I'll carry you back home when we arrive." he kisses the top of my head and I smile in bliss, snuggling against him as he pulls me close. I close my eyes and lay my head on his shoulder to sleep.

"Sweetheart, wake up! Quick." I jolt up awake when someone shakes me, scrambling to sit up as my heart races from the sudden burst into consciousness. I was still really drowsy, looking up to see Five in his suit and him setting some clothes down for me on the bed.

"Five?" I rub my eyes, wondering what was happening.

"I'm so sorry baby, but there's an emergency."

"What emergency?" I was more awake now, letting him help me out of bed so I could quickly change into some outdoor clothes. I look out the window to see that it was pitch black so it was clearly still the middle of the night.

"Luther called us. Viktor might be kidnapped."

"WHAT!?" I exclaim, immediately running around and getting ready in 10 minutes tops, putting my coat on and grabbing my bag before tugging on my boyfriend's arm to hurry up. He quickly puts on his coat and we leave our apartment, heading for his car and driving off. "Can you fill me in? What else did Luther say?" I ask, my love speeding down the road and I start to recognise it.

"He didn't say much except that." he says and I look at the streets.

"Why is this familiar-wait, are we heading to your old house!?" I gasp, turning back to Five and seeing the way his knuckles turn white when he grips the wheel. I frown knowing he wasn't ready to come face to face with his home after 6 years. We both had no idea what would greet us and I had a terrible feeling that it wouldn't be good. We turn the corner and I look out to see the old and dilapidated building.

Exactly as how it was in the apocalypse...

I look at my sweet assassin as he stares at the house that is still standing but in ruins, parking his car along the street with a few other cars which means the rest of his family is here.

When will he ever be able to come home again, to see it standing proud as it once did when he was a child?

"Are you ok?" I whisper, reaching over to hold his hand and his grip immediately softens around the wheel, letting me take both of his hands in mine and squeezing them as he lets out a deep breath.

"As ready as I'll ever be I guess. We better get a move on and see if Luther is telling the truth or tricked us into an intervention." I nod at his words and we get out of the car.

I hold Five's hand tightly in mine, letting him lead us both into his broken home. I look around sadly at his childhood home destroyed and in shambles, standing in the large foyer with the other Hargreeves. I look around and see the banner for the home which confuses me but at the same time not since this was a different timeline.

Hargreeves Home For Wayward Boys.

Guess the jackass was still abusing kids one way or another...

I looked up to expect the large portrait of Five but all there was is a dirty outline of the said missing portrait, like it was a hollow area that looked way too empty.

It was... simpler back then.

Now... everything was just a mess...

"Ok, Luther, we're here. What is it?" Five says, snapping me out of my reverie and I turn to look at Luther when he brings out a note to show us what was on it. 

I notice that Sloane wasn't here with the rest of us. "Where's Sloane?" I whisper to Luther.

"She's with the kids right now. I didn't want to bother her and wake her up on her day off. Plus, I'd rather keep her out of danger." I nod and he goes to explain what was on the note he called all of us about. "It says, 'Your brother Viktor has been kidnapped. Follow my exact instructions and no harm will come to him.'"

The note gets passed around so we can look at it, me having it last and I show my love as he reads over it with pursed lips. "All right. Any idea on who might be behind this?" he asks his siblings.

Luther scoffs. "My money's on you-know-you."

"He's not bloody Voldemort." I roll my eyes and ex-monkey shrugs.

"Dad? Come on. Dad didn't kidnap Viktor. He doesn't give a shit about us." Klaus says.

"I agree with Klaus. I'm sorry guys but it's true." I shrug and the rest of the Hargreeves all give me a stinkeye making me raise my hands in defense. "Damn! Ok!"

"Is the wittle baby cranky when she's lost her sleep?" Ben mocks me and I quickly pelt a candle at his head making him yelp in pain and drop the cup of tea he was, for some fucking reason, drinking.

"Don't fucking start!" I snap at him, Five moving me behind him since he knows I was going to start attacking anyone that pisses me off BECAUSE I AM LOSING MY SLEEP!

"It just really hurts when family stabs you in the back." Diego says this offhanded comment while looking at me and I blink at him in confusion.

"Five, can't you just call your CIA buddies?" Allison asks and I raise a brow at her.

"You said you haven't gotten in contact with your family since you got here?" I whisper to Five, wondering how his sister knew about his job.

"I kinda caught everyone up briefly at the birthday party while you went to explore the playground." he whispers back to me.

"Oh."

"Also, the CIA doesn't investigate kidnappings. That's the FBI." my love exhales out louder for his family to hear him.

"Wait, hey, hey, no. We don't need anyone. We can handle this." Diego says enthusiastically and Luther immediately agrees.

"Y'all forget you're not teens doing missions for your daddy anymore? You're all out of shape. It's been decades." I cross my arms.

"Plus, we're not exactly a team anymore Diego." Five agrees with me, holding my waist. "Even though some of us clearly have more training than others." he whispers to me making me bite back my laughter.

"Or ever were." Ben says and I grab the cup from his hand to throw it on the couch. "The fuck was that for!?"

"I just fucking felt like it." I hiss at him.

"And you know, then there's the "no powers" thing." Lila adds in.

"No. I don't care! If Viktor's in trouble, I'm in." Luther says.

"You forget you have a wife and kids my guy? What's going to happen to them if something bad happens to you because you couldn't protect yourself since you didn't have your powers?" I explain and ex-ape-man falters.

"We need to do something!" Diego exclaims, looking at Lila and she blinks at him.

"What are you looking at me for? I'm not your mother."

Diego grins and turns to Luther. "I'm in." both brothers clap hands in excitement.

"Ok, fine!" Allison yields as well and I pinch the bridge of my nose. Now it was unanimous. It was Allison, Diego, Luther and Ben winning against Five, Klaus and Lila. I don't have the Hargreeves last name so my vote's out. "Now what?"

"Ah, it says we're supposed to meet at Sy's Dry Cleaning on 5th Avenue." Luther reads out the address. He and Diego quickly run out of the house to get the show on the roll and I just groan in exasperation since I wanted my bed.

"Baby, I know. I'm so sorry." Five mumbles to me as he holds my hand, leading me outside to the van that Diego and Lila drove in, opening up the sliding door for me to get into the seats behind Diego who was driving. My boyfriend settled next to me and the others got in soon after. "Sleep for a bit." My love pulls my head onto his shoulder and I get comfortable, dosing off against him as he rubs my thighs over his lap. The drive was pretty short anyway when we got to the drivers, I was just way too exhausted for this. "Do you want to stay in the van?" My sweet assassin asks and I shake my head. I didn't want to be alone in the van at night. 

We get out last, me clinging to Five's jacket tightly. "Stay behind Five. He's got the gun." My eyes widen at Lila's words and when I see him pull out his gun.

"You have a gun on you!? How long has it been on you!? Wait, do you always have one on you!?" I whisper yell as we all approach the building and he gives me a sheepish smile with a nod. "How many do you have!?"

"You don't wanna know, sweetheart." He whispers back and I face palm. 

Ah well, I guess it makes sense for an agent like him.

We enter the building quietly, Five walking in first to scope the place and make sure it was safe. He nods to Luther to hold me back so I won't follow him and I frown as he searches the place with his flashlight. When he signals the all-clear, we slowly follow him behind. I frowned deeply when Luther kept me behind him as per his brother's request to keep me safe. I was annoyed but at the same time touched. But I was mostly annoyed that my love was putting himself in danger again to keep his family safe.

We walk through the racks of clothes hung up, weaving between aisles of desks, washing machines and dryers. I jump when I see Klaus in a damn gas mask to avoid inhaling the chemicals in here.

Where the fuck did he get that!?

Five leads us to the centre of the building, flashing his light on a figure tied up in a chair with a bag over their head. Luther immediately rushes over to the figure while my boyfriend makes me stay behind him, his brother pulling the bag off to reveal Viktor.

Oh shit, he's hot.

SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU HAVE A BOYFRIEND!

I quickly shake my head and lean my chin on Five's shoulder, him reaching up to stroke my cheek and I swoon from his touch before he raises his gun in position to still search the area and keep us safe in case there were ambushers.

Five will always make me fall for him no matter what.

"Hey, there he is." Luther smiles, seeing his brother who takes in a deep breath and winces from the flashlight blinding him.

"Looking good buddy." Ben snickers.

"Thank god! What's up, Vik?" Klaus breathes out, ripping the mask off.

"Couldn't make it to your niece's birthday?" Diego mocks with a smile.

"Well, I was on the way, and then I got kidnapped, so..."

"Well, I think that's a good enough reason to miss your daughter's birthday." I pipe up and tease Diego who rolls his eyes, Viktor glancing at me with wide eyes when he hears me.

"(Y/n)!?" I peek out from behind Five, walking over to untie him.

"Hey..." I smile at him.

As soon as he was free, he got up to hug me and I squeezed him back. "Thank god you're ok!" He leans back, squishing my cheeks. "You've grown up! I thought you didn't-we were worried-"

"-I'm here. Don't worry. Five found me." I look over at him who beams at me, holding his hand out for mine and I hold it as he steps next to me.

"Looking good Viktor." He nods.

"You too Five."

"So... who grabbed you? Was it Hargreeves and his goons?" Ben pipes up from behind.

"No way. This is amateur hour." Five scoffs.

"I apologise if my methods are a little crude, but this is my first kidnapping." We hear another voice call out and my sweet assassin quickly shines his flashlight at where it came from in a rack of clothes, but I gasp loudly recognising who it was instantly. "And hopefully, my last. But I need your help."

NO FUCKING WAY!?

FUCKING IAN!?

I gasp loudly and everyone looks at me. "What's wrong (y/n)?" Five asks softly after he hears me gasp, Luther quickly hiding me behind him away from the gunfire standoff between my boyfriend and Ian.

"I'll explain later. Let him explain." I call out to the guy.

"If he wants to explain, kidnapping our brother and pointing a gun at us isn't gonna buy him much goodwill." my sweet assassin hisses softly.

"It was the only way I could make sure that you came here. All of you." Ian stutters, his hands shaking as he looks at us. "I couldn't leave anything to chance. Especially when it comes to... the Umbrella Academy." My heart races when I hear that and I instantly get a bad feeling.

"No one's called us that in six years." Diego says.

"Sorry, pal. The Umbrella Academy doesn't exist." Five says as he narrows his eyes at Ian.

"Nor has it ever existed." I explain as I pop up from behind Luther. "Not in this timeline. Hargreeves Home For Wayward Boys. Reginald never started the academy in this timeline." I explain and the others look at me in shock.

Ian stammers, holding a hand up and he sputters as he puts the gun down on the floor. "Kick it over." Five says and Ian does, my boyfriend kicking the gun over to me and I pocket it after.

We all watch Ian take out a box and put it on a table, opening the lid before taking things out. "Can... Can you explain this, then?" He took out a newspaper clipping with a picture of the Umbrella Academy in front of the Eiffel Tower.

I quickly snatch it, reading over the headline. "Umbrella Academy saves Eiffel Tower, receives key to city of Paris." I look at Five in the picture and he looked way younger than he actually looks now... well I mean when Aidan looked younger back then, compared to now. "This... was from the comics..." I mutter and the family surrounds me and the box, Five standing next to me as I look at him. "I... had comics of the show, the first two seasons..." I whisper to him only. "The very first one... had your family save Paris in the first few pages... but you... you're not supposed to be in the picture... you were in the apocalypse before this happened..." I mumble as I explain to Five, Diego takes the clipping from me and the family looks at it in confusion.

"When the hell did we save the Eiffel Tower?" Klaus asks.

"You never did..." I mutter to him and he blinks at me, Viktor calling out to Ian.

"Where did you get that!?"

"It was in this box of things in the trunk of my daughter's car. Her name's Jennifer." My skin prickles when I hear that.

"Don't." I quickly stop everyone from going to the box. They look at me but I turn to Ian. "What's your name."

"Sy Grossman."

I shake my head, my hands itching to get my phone and I scramble to get it out. "It can't be. You're David Cross! Famous actor who played in the Chipmunks series. You played Ian!"

"Who's Ian?" he asks and my heart plummets when I try to search for David Cross on the internet, my phone fizzing and short-circuiting until the search engine shows up for no results.

"No! This can't be happening again!" I exclaim, Five rushing over to me to hold my arms when I started to shake, taking me to the back so I could calm down.

"Hey, sweetheart, what's wrong?" I scramble for his phone to search up David Cross but it was the same result. Nothing exists for that name on the internet.

"No!" my love takes his phone from me and holds my cheeks to have me look at him, to have me stop shaking.

"(Y/n), what's wrong-?"

"-where did she get all those things!?" I exclaim, seeing Diego pull out Cha Cha's mask, pushing past my love to grab Grossman's shirt.

"I don't know!" He gasps, Five pulling me back from the terrified man. "Just, listen! About a year ago, she met these new friends, and, uh, they started going to these strange meetings."

"(Y/n)-" Five purses his lips as he holds me, seeing me grow anxious and agitated.

This can't be happening!

After everything we worked for! Everything we did to have a good life! After everything I did to make sure Five had his happy ending!

Klaus pulls out Dave's dog tags and my heart hurts seeing the sadness in his eyes.

They can't go through this again!

I can't go through this again...

"They're very strange people. They call themselves the Keepers," Lila, Five and I glance at each other. "And then, over time, she stopped talking to me. Just stopped! And that was about three months ago, and I haven't seen her since, and I believe that something terrible has happened."

I glance over at Ben, wondering if there was any sign that he knew this Jennifer.

Five pulls me to the box so we could take a look inside as Grossman answers Luther on how he found the Hargreeves. Apparently through Allison's commercial ad. "And I'm... I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I apologise." Grossman was sincere in his apology, especially to Viktor. "Uh, but, I mean, she's all that I have left, and, uh..."

"What do you need us for? Call a cop." Five says.

"I did! They didn't do anything..."

"Look, we'd like to help, but we're not the same people in that picture anymore." Viktor explains and my love sifts through the box again, moving documents out of the way until he taps my arm to get my attention. I look at what he was looking at and dread completely washes over me. There was a jar of Marigold...

"Give us 24 hours." Five quickly says and I smack his arm, shaking my head but he gives me a pointed look.

"Five, what are you doing!?" I hiss softly.

"We can't leave this with him." He whispers to me. "24 hours. We'll find your daughter." My boyfriend speaks up, suddenly snatching the box and taking it with him as I quickly follow him out.

"Yes! Thank you!"

Five calls for everyone. "Guys let's go!" We all follow him out of the dry cleaners quickly. "Come on!"

"What the hell was that, man!?" Diego calls out and my boyfriend huddles us beside the van.

"Hey, why are you considering helping that guy?" Ben asks, annoyed.

"I don't want to," Five snaps at him. Everyone kept asking him what was going on, him putting the box down and taking off the lid as we all surround him. "But... because of this." He leans down and takes out the jar of Marigold.

Everyone had mixed reactions to it but all I felt was dread when I looked at it. "We need to talk." I say sternly and everyone looks at me. "But not out here." Diego nods and ushers everyone into the van, my boyfriend packing up the stuff and handing it to me to entrust me with it as we climb into the van after everyone.

The siblings all decide to go to a hibachi place nearby, the drive being too short for me to contemplate my thoughts or even sort through them coherently. We all got out and walk into the restaurant, getting taken to a private booth for all of us. I wait for the Hargreeves to all sit down before I try to explain things, pacing the floor.

"Ok look," I breathe out, running my fingers through my hair to try and push my exhaustion away. "You know... that..." I grimace, knowing how they feel about this. "You're from a show in my world right." Everyone grumbles about this since my demonic Sparrow self from the last season spoiled everything. "Ok look, I haven't been able to give you all an apology for lying about me knowing the future ok. I'm sorry. If I started saying too much then this world starts to crumble, ok. Things stop happening how they're supposed to and people go missing. Ok, Imma stop rambling."

"Good. Get on with it-ow!" I smack the back of Ben's head.

"Anyway. Unfortunately, we're all still in the show. This is another season." Everyone groans loudly in annoyance.

"So what!? There's gonna be another apocalypse or world-ending related event!?" Klaus gasps and I nod and that's when everyone starts getting angry with each other. I glance at Five and Lila and they shake their head I know I need to keep shut about the Cleanse for now.

"Can you all just-" Five sighs when no one listens to him.

"ENOUGH!" I yell as I slam my hands on the table and they all shut up. "Listen up first before I start explaining things."

"What I'd like to know is how the daughter of some random dry cleaner ends up with a jar of Marigold in the trunk of her car." My boyfriend asks setting the jar of Marigold on the table. He holds his hand out for me after to pull me into my seat next to him.

"How do we know that's not just a jar of glow stick juice?" Diego asks.

"Why don't you take a sip and find out, tough guy." Ben jabs at him. Five, me and Viktor were glancing back and forth at the brothers going off at each other.

"I will if you will." Knife boy retorts.

"Don't even think about it." His wife hisses.

"Ok, for the sake of discussion, let's say this is legit." Five points to the jar. "Does anyone here want their power back?"

"Yeah-"

"-no, siree, Bob." Klaus cuts Ben off. "For the first time in my life, I'm sober. And... happy." He grimaces but nods. "But most importantly, 100% poltergeist free." The chef suddenly comes back and Five puts the jar in the box by his feet to hide it. He leans over to hold my thigh, rubbing his hand against it and I hold his hand to comfort him. 

"Free? You rarely leave the house. And when you do, you're wearing surgical gloves in public." Allison explains and I blink at them.

"You live together?" I whisper and they nod. "Oh cool."

"Yeah, well, at least I'm in control." Klaus mutters. The chef declares it show time and starts his performance, everyone clapping afterwards.

"Look, guys, it's a hard no for me too." Viktor says. "I've got a bar to run, friends. Like, a real life."

"Cool! You own a bar! I would love to come over and see it!"

"Anytime (y/n). Free drinks whenever you're there." Viktor winks at me and Five clears his throat to grab my attention, squeezing my thigh.

"You're all nuts, all right? We should be mainlining this shit right now." Ben says but no one agrees with him. "Look, come on big guy. I know you want it." He turns to Luther but he shakes his head.

"I'm happy where I am. I have Sloane, my children, a family home. Granted we don't have a lot but it's enough for me. We're managing, but we're happy."

"Is that where the bar is set these days? Managing?" Ben scoffs.

"Says you who has nothing to show for!" I mock, the others snickering. "No real talents, no experiences, no job skills. A fake leader and a pushover that everybody hates cause he has nothing better to do than one-up everyone cause he doesn't feel like he's enough!"

"Ooooh!"

"Daddy's boy left in the dust! All alone with no friends! Well, tough buddy! Maybe you shouldn't have been such a pain in the ass! Be less of a prick and then maybe people would like you."

"Well, shit..." Diego laughs.

"Let her cook!" Klaus gasps.

"A liar and a cheat! You scammed people out of their money because you have no discernible qualities of a good person! Trying to make easy money cause you never worked once in your life pretty boy! Everything handed to you on a lovely silver platter by Reggie daddy himself!"

"Oh my god."

"I'm done." I settle back in my seat, a smirk on my face as I eat some of the fried tempura shrimp Klaus shared with me. "Five, my love. You have the floor." He winks at me in appreciation.

"So everyone, what's the verdict?" My boyfriend says, his hands clasped together on the table.

"How about this," Diego pipes up. "majority rules." He shrugs.

"You're not actually considering this, are you?" Klaus asks Allison.

"No!" She halts, clearing her throat. "No, my life is great. I have everything I need."

"Yup. Me too." Lila smiles.

"Same!" Klaus pipes up.

Everyone turns to me and I blink. "What...?"

"Yay or nay?" Ben asks me.

"Nay. I don't want to become venom again..." I yawn.

"Alright then. Motion fails. We don't drink the mystery juice." Five says. "So we don't get our powers back." he turns to me after. "Ok, sweets. You wanted to explain things?"

I nod and get up from my seat. "Anyone got any questions first or want me to do a quick rundown?"

"Quick rundown!" Klaus claps, excited for a story and that's what I give them. I wasn't going to hold anything back anymore. I explained how each of them were played by actors, their lives being a show I watched. I explained each episode the way it was shown in the show, how it was supposed to be and then explained what was different when I came here and started muddling things up.

"None of you were supposed to be born, your existence came to fruition because of the Marigold."

"Reginald has a wife called Abigail and that was who you were protecting on the Moon, Luther. That's why Reggie sent you up there."

"Reggie is an alien from a different world."

I continue trying to explain things from the best of my memories. It's been a while now so things were fuzzy and I was forgetting bits and pieces of information. I take things out from the box to show them things.

"This clipping of you saving Paris, never happened. It was an introduction to a comic of the show that I have in my world. Five was already gone and stuck in the apocalypse when comic you saved Paris. This clipping is a completely different timeline that I have never witnessed visually or in written form." I show them things where the figurines never existed in my world either, something from their timeline.

"Timelines are merging..." Five realises.

"Or bleeding into each other." I mumble and he nods.

"Does the name 'Jennifer' mean anything to you?" My boyfriend asks and I grimace as I look at Ben.

"What?" He blinks at me.

"There's this thing in the show... The 'Jennifer Incident'..." I clear my throat, looking at Ben. "It's how you died. Well, Umbrella Academy you. You had another version that was alive and was part of the Umbrella Academy."

"What!?" Ben exclaims.

"Why do you think every single one of them were shocked to see you alive when you showed up at the house in the last season!? Because we had just lost you in Dallas in the second season! Their brother is gone and he's not coming back. Why do you think they're holding onto you and trying to make you part of their family again? Their Ben or not, they love you. They've missed you for years." I explain and Ben looks at everyone who looks at him sheepishly. "Especially Klaus. He and Ben were closely knitted. They did everything together. Especially after Ben's ghost latched to him and joined him for everything. Why do you think he's so attached to you?" Ben frowns softly and looks at Klaus.

"I... didn't know..." he mumbles. "So... what does this Jennifer have to do with my death?"

I shrug. "The show never explained how Umbrella Ben died. All I know is that it was something terrible. I have no inkling of a clue at all. But... You and Jennifer are intertwined somehow. Through all seasons and all timelines. Umbrella you had drawings of her in his room, and I know you did too."

"No, I didn't-"

"-Ben don't lie." I roll my eyes and he huffs knowing I was right. "So... that's mostly everything from what I can remember. Please tell me we're gonna drop this mission from Grossman and go back to living our lives?" I beg the family and they look at each other before agreeing and I sigh in relief. "Oh thank god, I am not going through another death or another apocalypse. We can just ignore this ever happened." I move to sit down next to Five as the family decides to have their meals together in peace.

"What are we going to do with the box and the Marigold?" Luther asks.

"(y/n) and I will keep hold of it-"

"-why you two!?" Ben scoffs, cutting off Five.

"Because the both of us are tired of our powers and just want to rest. We won't be fucking tempted to down the Marigold like some crazy addict." I roll my eyes. "I am not dealing with my demons again and Five just wants to live without time travel problems. Is that so hard to believe?"

"How about... we get our powers back but don't search for Jennifer at all? Win-win!" Ben tries to persuade the others but they shake their heads, disagreeing even if he tried to explain how much easier their lives would be. To go back to how things were the first time. "I tried! You're all morons!" he hisses, shoving his chair back as he gets up and walks away from the table, Luther asking where he was going. "To take a piss!" he snaps, walking away and the rest of us the family just enjoy the meal together.

"Alright, I gotta hit the road." Viktor groans softly as he rubs his stomach after gorging himself, putting the napkin on the table.

"No, so soon?"

"Come on, Vik! Stay a bit longer!"

"No, wait! Stay, man!"

The Hargreeves beg for their brother to stay to spend more time with him. "It's just a long drive. So, yeah."

"Yeah, I should go too. I've got an audition tomorrow." Allison says and now everyone was getting up to leave.

"You've gotta drive the kids to the dentist at 7 am." Lila reminds Diego and he stifles his laughter in annoyance.

"Why you gotta make it so early again?" he downs the rest of his beer.

"Because they have school at 8."

"Ah yeah, I gotta drop Marcus and Chris to daycare and school." Luther remembers that it was a school day for his kids. "Got a lot of house chores I need to do tomorrow too so Sloane can rest."

"Woah, woah, woah! Hey! Where's everyone going? We haven't even gotten to the steak yet!?" Ben comes out. "No! No!" he signals over the server who brings out a plate of shot glasses. "Ok. One last shot, on me. For old-time's sake. Please! Klaus..." he looks over at him and Luther and Five quickly shake their head, telling Klaus he doesn't need to listen to Ben since they wanted him to stay sober. The others agree but Klaus tells them one shot is ok, taking the shot glass from Ben. "Ok, then." Ben claps his hands in excitement, Luther passing out the rest of the glasses to his siblings including me.

"Psst." I hear Klaus whisper to me and I turn to him as he sneaks me his shot glass instead, wanting to stay sober and I give him a thumbs up. I quickly down his shot glass and pass it back to him empty so he could pretend to drink. "Thank's Crazy."

"Anytine boo." I wink at him and he beams, ruffling my hair. 

"Here's to the non-existent Umbrella Academy!" Ben declares. "Kanpai!" The family cheers and they all drink their shot, me drinking my shot glass of sake with them and I wince from the burn of having a second one.

The family starts to split ways and I wave goodbye to everyone as they leave. "Can we take the rest of the food home?" I ask Five when I turn around to face him to see him already holding plastic containers and I fluster as he chuckles.

"Of course. I knew you were gonna ask. I know you don't like wasting food." he grins as he taps my chin up affectionately, helping me pack up our serving and leaving the rest for Ben to have since he was staying to eat. "Don't stay out too late jackass. I'm not paying for more than an hour." my boyfriend says, picking up the box and I carry our bags of food back to the Van. Diego and Lila drive us back to the the rundown academy so we could get back to our own cars and head off our separate ways. The car ride was short but I was getting sleepy the closer I was to home, knowing that I was close to my bed. I was nodding off, my boyfriend parking the car once we got home and unbuckled my seatbelt for me. "We're home sweets." he gets out of the car and comes around to my side, opening the door for me and holding my hands to pull me out. He chuckles seeing how drowsy I was. "Want me to carry you?" I swat him away with a flustered huff.

"I'm still awake. I don't need you to do that." he grins, pecking my cheek as he takes the box and I grab the bags. We head up to our apartment and I groan in relief that I was home. "Go to bed, my love. I'll put everything away."

"Are you sure?" he nods and kisses me sweetly.

"Go on. I'll be in soon." he pats my behind towards the bedroom and I start to shed my clothes to dump it on my chair, falling in bed. I groan in relief, instantly melding into the sheets as I nestled under the blankets. I open my eyes to see Five quickly change out of his suit and into his pjs after he sorted everything out. He climbs into bed behind me, pulling me against his chest to lay on my side but I turn around in his arms to face him and cling to him which has him chuckling softly against my hair. He hugs me tightly and I easily fall asleep in his arms as he rubs my back and my head.

"Love you (y/n)..."

"I love you too Five."