- Chapter Eight -
"I'm suggesting that turning Grace off is the wrong way to go about it, big man."

It was a new day and Primrose Armitage had absolutely nothing to do. She would work every day of the week, but now she didn't have a job anymore. After she had been fired, she attempted to calm herself down by having a peaceful candlelit bath, which helped a bunch. Still stressed about no longer having a job, let alone not having anything in the memory of her younger sister, Prim decided to sleep it off and try to come up with a solution in the morning. She did not want this to get to her as much as it was starting to.

In the middle of her cornflakes and orange juice, Primrose was looking on her laptop for available job interviews. The inheritance she got from her parents was kept safe at the bank, so it's not like she'd be homeless without a job. She just needed something o occupy herself with. She needed a distraction.

So far, she found a job at a bowling alley, working at the bar and a job at a local department store, which she now discovered had been shot up last night. Before she could submit an application for an interview at the bowling alley, her phone rang, making her jump and spill a couple of cornflakes covered in milk onto the table.

She huffed and stood from her seat, going over to the phone and putting it to her ear. "Primrose Armitage speaking." The smile returned to her face having been gone for the majority of the night.

"Rosie! Hello, um, Luther thinks that he has some amazing revelation about daddy's death, so...can you possibly, maybe, bring one of your cookies down to the academy so I can get through this?" Klaus pleaded from the other end of the line. Prim laughed softly and looked to the cookie jar on her kitchen counter.

"Yes, Klaus, I'll bring some over." She said and was about to hang up when he spoke through the phone again.

"Also, Luther doesn't know you're coming so just keep it on the downlow." He stage-whispered and giggled, muttering a 'ta-ta goodbye for now' before putting the phone down. Primrose shook her head and ginned at her friend before making her way to the cookie jar and pulling out seven cookies, emptying the jar. One for each of the siblings, plus her.

•*•*•*•*•

She took one step into the academy and marveled once again at the amazing architecture and decorative features. Then a wave of nostalgia hit her as a knife came zooming past her face, lodging itself into the wood to her left. A yelp of surprise left her mouth as she looked to where it came from and saw Diego, huffing and turning back around to walk back into the living room.

"It's just Primrose." He said.

"What is she doing here?" Luther groaned whilst somebody clapped and ran out of the room. Klaus came into view with open arms and instead of embracing his friend, he went straight to her purse and pulled out a bag with a single cookie inside.

"You shouldn't have." He gasped in mock gratitude and then grabbed her arm, pulling her to where the other siblings sat. Allison nodded in acknowledgement, receiving a warm smile, whereas Luther grunted in annoyance. Vanya smiled weakly.

Diego only spare her a glance as she rooted in her purse for the rest of the cookies. "Oof." He winced when a plastic bag hit him in the face.

"I'm so sorry, I was just going to give it to you and then..." Prim trailed off, looking at Klaus who was giggling whilst chewing on his cookie. The man in black waved it off and looked at the cookie in the bag with raised eyebrows. "Klaus said he wanted one, so I brought one for all of you." She handed one to Allison and then to Luther, who took it begrudgingly. Then she handed done to Vanya, who looked pleasantly surprised.

"Okay, okay. Can we please get back to the reason that we're here?" Luther asked. Primrose apologized softly, gathering around a small TV screen with the rest of the Hargreeves siblings.

He started the film and it showed the android mother giving Reginald tea, whilst also taking his monocle and then going back to the tray whilst the man had a heart attack in his bed, then he was laying dead whilst Grace did nothing. Primrose looked at the screen in confusion, if Grace was an android then why wasn't she programmed to save his life.

"I mean, do you really think that mom would hurt dad?" Vanya asked disbelievingly, looking to Luther who looked back down at her.

"You haven't been home in a long time, Vanya, maybe you don't know Grace anymore." The big man reasoned and Prim could see her disappointed look, so she made her way over and stood next to the small woman for comfort.

"And who is it that has lived on the moon for the last four years?" Prim asked bitterly, surprising herself as well as the others. "Sorry, I...I don't know what came over me. Continue." She smiled unsurely, Vanya looked back at her as if to ask if she was okay, to which the strawberry-blonde nodded, not entirely sure herself.

"If he was poisoned then it would've shown on the coroners report and like Primrose said a couple of days ago, they are distinguished professionals." Diego argued, shaking his head.

"Well, I don't need a report or a distinguished professional to tell me what I can see with my own eyes." Luther told him. Prim honestly did not know why he was so invested in this, it isn't going to bring his father back. She's had enough experience with death as it is.

"Maybe all that low gravity in space messed with your vision." The vigilante stepped forward and rewound the video. "Look closer, dad has his monocle. Mom stands up. Monocles gone." Diego stepped away from the screen with his newfound proof. Primrose smiled reassuringly at him and the corners of his lips twitched into a small smirk.

"Oh yeah." Klaus chuckled, pointing at the screen whilst taking a bite of his cookie.

"She wasn't poisoning him...she was taking it. To clean it." He took a bit out of his own cookie in victory and for dramatic effect. Though one it hit his taste buds, his eyes widened and he looked at the treat and then to Prim. "You made these?"

"Yeah," She nodded. "Family recipe."

"They're delicious." Diego mumbled, biting more off of the cookie.

"Okay, enough about the cookies. If Grace was cleaning it...then where is it? No, I've searched the house, including all her things." Luther denied. "She doesn't have it."

"Diego?" Prim said when he looked down to the ground, his mouth parted as if he was going to say something.

"That's because I took it from her." He finally looked up, glancing to the strawberry-blonde out of the corner of his eye. All the siblings turned to him as Primrose whistled quietly. "After the funeral." He added, nibbling on the cookie once again.

"You've had the monocle this whole time?" Allison asked him angrily. "What the hell Diego?" She took a step forwards.

"Give it to me." Luther demanded.

"I threw it away." He finished off his cookie, brushing off his hands. Prim looked anxiously around at the siblings, this would not end well.

"You what?" Luther seethed whilst Allison scoffed, eating her own cookie, having the same reaction as Diego, just not speaking up on the matter.

"Look, I knew if you found it on mom, you'd lose your shit," Diego took a step forwards towards his brother.

"Just like your doing right now." Prim pointed out. Klaus turned to her, concern washing all over his features, she was acting...different. He glanced to Ben, who seemed to have the same reaction as him whilst they both eyed the girl cautiously. Diego pointed at the woman with his knife, raising his eyebrows at Luther to prove her point.

"Diego, you son of a bitch." The big man said through gritted teeth, taking another step forward.

"Hey. No, calm down." Vanya stepped in the middle of the wo with her arms held out to the side. Diego rushed into a fighting stance, holding up his knife hand threateningly on one side of his sister.

Klaus made his way over to Prim and placed a hand on her shoulder, leaning down to whisper. "Are you feeling okay?" She looked at him weirdly and nodded, putting a smile on her face which had previously dissolve into a straight one. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" She asked and they both turned back to the spat whilst Klaus continued to eye her suspiciously.

"Look, I know dad wasn't exactly an open book." Vanya started. "But I do remember one thing he said. Mom was, well designed as being a caretaker but...also a caretaker."

"I thought so," Primrose nodded. "Most androids have all sorts of functions put into them and can be enabled at different times, but considering your dad was who he was, well, Grace may have had her protection instincts programmed into her." She told them.

"How do you know so much about it, huh?" Luther asked her, suspicious of the woman all over again.

"Her parents were scientists." Diego pointed out. "Anything that dad did, the Armitage family did better." He mumbled, glancing at Prim as she furrowed her eyebrows.

"Prim," Allison got her attention. "What do you mean by protection instincts?"

"Well, she was probably programmed to intervene if someone's life was in jeopardy." The woman elaborated and the siblings nodded in understanding. It was silent for a moment until Luther spoke up again.

"If her hardware is degrading then...we need to turn her off." He suggested and Diego was quick to protest against that ridiculous idea.

"She is not just a vacuum cleaner that you can shove in a closet." He raised his voice, pointing his knife to his brother again. "She feels things! I've seen it!"

"She just stood there, Diego and watched our father die!" Luther also raised his voice, this time it was Primrose who stood in between the two.

"Like I said before, certain properties or functions can be disabled or enabled at any time. If you think about it, Grace could just be a victim as well as your father." She reasoned and Diego pointed his knife at her and exclaimed in agreement.

"Exactly!"

"So, you're suggesting sabotage?" The big man asked her accusingly.

"I'm suggesting that turning Grace off is the wrong way to go about it, big man." She said through gritted teeth, staring up at him, until she realized what she was doing and took a step backwards, confused with her sudden hostility. She forced a tiny smile back onto her face as she stepped further away from Luther.

"I'm with Luther." Allison said, taking a sip of her drink.

"Surprise, surprise." Diego looked back at her as the movie star told him to shut up.

The two men turned to Vanya, who was next to Prim, the poor woman looked like deer in headlights under the intense stare of her brothers. She stuttered abut before getting interrupted by Diego.

"Yeah, she shouldn't get a vote."

"I was going to say I agree with you." Vanya argued, and suddenly she got a vote. Diego then turned to Klaus who was staring at the empty plastic bag where a cookie had once been. "What about you, stoner boy? What do you got?" He asked.

"Oh, so, what? You need my help now? Oh 'Get out of the van, Klaus'." He mimicked what was meant to be Luther, or some other man. "'Well, welcome back to the van',"

"What van?" Allison asked no one in particular, looking to Prim who shrugged, not knowing what 'the van' was or is.

"What's it gonna be, Klaus?" Luther scoffed carelessly.

"I'm with Diego and Prim because screw you," He raised his voice at the man, who glanced to the strawberry-blonde. "And if Ben were here, he'd agree with me." Klaus told them.

"No, he wouldn't." Primrose shook her head, she'd learnt a lot about Ben and talked to thin air, which Klaus had said he was over the past five years. Klaus then hissed to a place behind her where she assumed Ben was stood.

"Okay, so, Primrose shouldn't get a vote-" Luther started.

"Well, why not?" Diego asked him. "She was at the funeral, she was here when we watched the recording, and she has powers just like us. So, its four, to two." He bragged, pouting mockingly as he held out a hand. Prim brought hers down onto it to low-five and they both smirked whilst looking at the bigger man.

"Votes not final yet." Allison argued.

"What?" Diego looked to her.

"Fives not here yet."

"It wouldn't make a difference, no matter what he says, we have four." The man argued, holding up four fingers. Both Allison and Luther scoffed simultaneously.

"Primrose doesn't count." They both made protests.

"The whole family has to vote, we owe each other that, and Primrose isn't family." Allison said, whilst Vanya and Luther agreed that they should wait for Five.

"She's my family," Klaus made a face before looking back to the spot that he hissed at. "And Ben's."

"She didn't even know Ben." Luther shouted. "Anyway, it doesn't matter, we wait for Five."

The siblings all left except for Diego, who looked to the back of the room, only to see Grace. Primrose watched as he approached the blonde android, muttering a few words to her. Vanya followed, which urged the strawberry-blonde to do the same.

"You all seem upset. I'll make cookies." Grace smiled and began to walk away until Primrose grabbed her hand softly, making the mother turn around. She rooted in her purse for a moment and pulled out her cookie that she grabbed for herself, placing it in her hand. Grace clutched it and pushed a strand of Prim's hair behind her ear, patting her cheek fondly before walking away.

Primrose remembered what it was like to have a mother as she watched the blonde walk away. Vanya and Diego were having a conversation behind her, occasionally glancing at the back of her head whilst she stared at the spot Grace had once been stood in. And for the first time in five years, a tear escaped Primrose's eye as she lifted a hand to where Grace had pushed her hair behind her ear.

"Hey." Diego was now in front of her, eyeing her with concern. "Are you okay?" He asked, glancing around them. Prim wiped the tear away hastily and nodded, patting him on the arm and walking away to go and find Klaus. His eyes trailed after her, still with a spark of concern, she hadn't been her usual self today, not much at least considering she brought all of them cookies.

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