CHAPTER SEVETY-THREE: WE'RE IN THIS TOGETHER

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"Everything looks normal" Five said as him and Lila walked up to the porch where her and Diego lived.

"It's possible they solved the Cleanse without us" he said as they stopped in front of the door and they could hear indistinct laughter and chatter.

Both Lila and Five took some deep breath before Five looked at her "Hey, you good?" he asked "It's been six years since I've seen my kids, Five. I'm scared" she said "What are you scared of?" he asked "I'm scared that they won't love me like they did before, that they have forgotten me" she said "I'm scared that Y/n had stop loving me too and have forgotten about me, and that I have missed the birth of my child" he said.

"What if things changes? What if my kids don't need me anymore? And Diego? We weren't doing well before I left" Lila looked at Five again. Her eyes looked for empathy in his, or maybe even an answer.

He let out a sigh. She sounded foolish, but Five related to her.

Were you waiting for him?

"Your family loves you, and they need you. They are waiting for you. Missing you at this exact moment" he said.

Emotionel has never being Five's strong suit, all he could do was being honest. And he was. His brother loved Lila, even if it was foolish and he could definitely not understand why. Not many things in life was certain but that was.

"Are you sure?" she asked "You're the only one stupid enough to question that" he said and she let out a small chuckled.

"Let's hope that it has only been a few hours for them and that nothing's changed" he said "You promise?" she asked "Yeah" he nodded "Promise" he said.

Then the door opened and they saw Diego "You're back!" he smiled as he looked at Lila "We are" Lila said "Good. Yeah" Diego approached Lila "I was starting to get worried" he said before hugging her.

He then pulled away to look at her "What?" she asked "Oh, I don't know. I...I missed you" he said "You did?" she asked "Yeah! I mean, why wouldn't I?" he smiled "It's just, I...I can't remember the last time you said that" she said "Yeah" he nodded "Sorry about that" he looked down with a guilty face "That's gonna change" he looked at her again.

"Lot of things are gonna change now" he said.

"Is Y/n here?" Five asked "Yeah" Diego nodded and Five walked past Diego to see you enter the living room.

As soon as he saw you, he rushed over to you before hugging you "Whoa" you said as you noticed the way he was hugging you.  

You were a little confuse the way Five was hugging you, it was like he haven't seeing you in years.

"I have missed you so much" he said as he hugged you tighter "I missed you too" you smiled while a single tear of joy fell from Five's eyes.

"I have missed you so much" he said "I saw you not long ago. When did you last see me?" you asked.

How long has passed that his eyes now seemed so hopeful that you would heal him? Why did he look so desperate, almost begging for you to touch him? To talk to him?    

"Are you okay?" he pulled away "I'm fine" you said "Is the baby okay?" he put his hand on your belly "The baby is fine" you said and he smiled.

"You okay?" you asked and he nodded "Yeah, I'm just happen that I'm with you again" he smiled before giving you a kiss.

"Mommy's home!" Grace said and Lila step into the house to see her daughter Grace.

Lila crouched down and Grace ran into her mom's arms "Oh my god" Lila breathing tremulously as she hugged her daughter while she let out a sob and laugh softly.

"You can let go of me now, mommy" Grace said "Just a little longer" Lila aid relived over she was with her family again. "But you're squishing my face" Grace said and the two pulled away.

"Why are you crying?" Grace asked as she noticed the tears in her mom's eyes and Lila smiled "I'm just so happy to see you" she said "You okay?" Diego asked and Lila looked at him "Yeah" she nodded "Come here!" he said and Grace ran over to her dad who lifted her up in his arms.

Then the door opened and Klaus entered with  Allison and Claire "Oh!" Klaus said as he entered "It smell so nice in here" he entered the living room "Hey! How's it going?" he asked.

"Oh! Yo, yo, yo! Shoes" Diego told them "Oh, sorry" Klaus started taking off his shoes while Grace put golden stickers on Diego's face

"Wait, what's with the dirt?" Diego asked as he noticed that Klaus had dirt all over him.

"Oh, yeah. Allison and Claire Bear had to dig me out of the grave of a dead greyhound" Klaus explain 

"Is anyone hungry? My god, I could eat a horse" Klaus said before he entered the kitchen "Hey, family" he said to Lila's family.

"Long story" Allison said while Lila walked over to Allison "Hello" Allison said a little confuse as Lila wrapped her arms around her.

"Oh, hi. Uh..." Allison said confuse, not really understand why Lila was hugging her.

"I'm famished. If I can get a little sandwich..." Klaus said in the kitchen.

Lila then pulled away "It's so good to see you" she said "You too" Allison said confuse as Lila hugged Claire before hugging you.

Lila then pulled away before walking over to hug her parents.

"I actually have something for you" you looked at Five who pulled something up from his pocket.

You saw it was a piece of leather that was wrapped around something.

He smiled as he stretched the leather towards you and you grab it.

You looked at him with a smile before looking back at the leather "What's this?" you asked "Look inside" he said before looking back at you.

You let out another smile before you look at the leather as you unwrapped it.

Inside was there a small bracelet that was made out of scrap metal.

"Where'd you get this?" you asked "I made it" he said and you looked at him while he was sending you his lovely look. That look he only gave you.

"You're so full of surprises" you smiled at him and he smiled "I made this for you" Five said calmly with a small smile before grabbing the bracelet while you smiled in shock and slight excitement before holding out your right wrist to let Five put it on you.

You both looked at the bracelet "It's beautiful" you said as you admire the bracelet while Five was admiring you as you hold the bracelet up to your face to see the bracelet more clearly, admiring the woven details on it and his craftsmanship. You could see that he have really made an effort and did his best. You could see that it must have taken him a week at least in making something like that.

But what you didn't noticed was how Five was looking at you, admire you with his green eyes filled with adoration as he smile subconsciously at the way you were looking at something he made, which honestly filled him with pride that he had managed to make you smile at something he made for you.

"I aim to please" he said as you looked back at him.

"As long as you're only pleasing me" you said "Of course, my love" he leans forward and gently kissed you.

---

After you have eating, you and the others was all sitting in the living room while Grace and Clarie was watching TV.

"Hey, has anyone heard from Viktor?" Luther suddenly asked  "Maybe he found Ben and Jennifer" Klaus said as he was eating some snaks.

"Surely he would've called, let a message" Allison said "So we all struck out? God, what a bunch of losers" Klaus said "Well, not entirely" Luther said before him and Diego fist bump "Yeah" Luther smiled before he looked at Five "Deputy Director Ribbons is a Keeper, along with other agents at the CIA" he said "It's your boss, Five" Diego said "Yeah" Luther nodded "It turns out Gene and Jean also have a bigger movement than we thought" Diego said "Yeah, so we have to get to Ben and Jennifer before they do and stop the Cleanse" Luther said "Right, but we have to find them first" Allison said "Well yeah, they might be anywhere" Luther said "We gotta find 'em" you said.

Luther then looked at Five "What's with you?" Five looked at him "You've barely said a word, Five. When does that ever happen?" he asked "It's called thinking, Luther. You should try it sometime" Five said annoying "Hey!" the others said "Whoa! Uncalled for!" Klaus said "Oh, shut up" Five told Kaus "Five, be nice" you told him "I do think. I think you're an asshole!" Luther said to Five.

"Grandpa's not had his nap or is Five's time of the month or he is the one that is pregnant now" Klaus said "Can we not do this right now?" Allison asked "No, you know what? Let's do it right now" Five got up.

"We all struck out. There's nothing better to do" he said "Hon, we will figure something out" you said "Five, it's gonna be okay" Lila told him "It's not gonna be okay" Five snapped at her.

"Oh, don't talk to my wife like that, man" Diego got up "Not around here. Not during Christmas" Diego approached Five "You're gonna do something about it, fuckface?" Five looked up at him.

"Yeah. I'm gonna k-i-c-k your a-s-s, my boy" Diego said "Mmm. Looks like somebody passed the first grade" Five said "You got a big mouth" Diego said.

"Listen who's the one who save your pathetic ass in the beginning then the second time. I never complained, I never asked for a thank you, but you still blame me, I guess while I'm at it. Let's just add more blood on my hands" Five hissed.

"Hey" Lila got up and so did you "Both of you need to stop, okay?" you pushed Diego and Five away from each other.

You looked at Five "We will figure something out" you said and he smiled as he grab your hand and gave it a gently squeeze

"Why are you clining so much to Y/n?" Klaus asked "Because I have being worried about her, and have missed her so much" Five replied.

"If you have being sp so worried about Y/n, why didn't you stay with her?" Luther asked. "I wish I did, but sadly I was trapped in a damn subway, eating rats, Luther" Five said "What do you mean?" Luther asked.

"Lila and I decided it was a good idea to try and go back in time to stop Ben from coming in contact with Jennifer. Turns out our plan was shit" Five explain and he let out a sigh, reaching to wrap an arm around your waist.

"You're not making any sense" Diego looked at Five before looking at Lila "What is he talking about?" he asked.

"We've been lost in a subway. Not a regular subway. It's a waypoint between alternate timelines of the same moment in time" Lila explain "We got lost, we couldn't find our way back. Until we did, six years later" Five said while Lila looked at Diego and he looked down while you all look down a sympathy look, feeling sorry for Five and Lila.

"No matter how strange this sounds, just listen. Five and I, we've been lost in a subway" Lila looked at her husband.

"We were searching for six years, Diego" Lila said

"We were moving from timeline to timeline. We had no idea what we would find. We were chases, attacked, shot at" Five looked at you "I never stopped trying find a way home, a back way to you" you looked at him.

"I never gave up that I would find my way back to you" he said.

"But we got tired, and we had to stop running" Five looked at you.

"But I finally found a way back home. Like I knew I would" he grab your hand "The thought of you kept me from losing hope" he said "That is what we have being doing" she said.

"Did something happen between you two?" Diego glanced between Five and Lila.

"First of all, eww" Lila said "Second of all. My head would be neatly placed on a platter if that had happened. Courtesy Y/n/n" Five said.

"I can't believe you see me as someone with such poor taste" Lila actually seemed offended. But that phrase didn't sit right with you. You were engaged with that guy she was talking about.

"Alright you got too far now" Fice rolled his eyes.

"No I will seriously rather shove angry wasps up my a---" "We got it, thank" Allison cut her off.

Five was offended while Diego was smiling and hugged his wife, playing with her hair as she had just declared herself to him. In a way, she did.

"Well, I'm glad to have you back" you kissed his cheek while Diego kissed Lila on the cheek as Five had his left arm wrapped around you as the two of you kissed, so happy being with each other again.

Diego looked down at Lila grab his hand "I'm sorry for being such a bad wife" she said "I'm sorry for being such a bad husband" he said.

"Maybe you two should go two couple's therapy" Lila and Diego looked at you "It might be good for you both, you need to work together and communicate better" you said and Lila looked back at Diego "She is right. If we want this to work, we need to work together and communicate. And maybe couple's therapy will be good for us" she said and Diego nodded "I want to work this out with you" he smiled.  

"Hey stupid-grown ups, check out the TV" Clarie said and you all turned to the TV.

"Isn't that Uncle Ben?" Claire pointed at the TV where a mugshot of Ben was showed.

"One of the occupants...is a former convict named Ben Hargreeves" the report said "Look, look, look, look!" Klaus pointed at the TV.

"Convicted in 2019 for a crypto Ponzi scheme and served four years in Avalon Federal Correctional Institution" the reporter said "Oh, we gotta go" Luther said "Yeah" Klaus nodded.

"It's unclear how this armed group of protesters is connected with Hargreeves" the reporter said as the TV showed Gene's and Jean's people with guns.

"Local police have yet to be able to get close enough to the building to make contact, and we have no information if Hargreeves is holding any hostages" the reporter said.

"Why do I have a feeling that Viktor is there, trying to stop Ben" you said "What are we going to do?" Klaus asked "We're going to save Viktor" Luther said "And stop the Cleanse" Five said.

"Y/n you stay here" Five told you "Not gonna happen, I'm going to help you guys with this" you said "It's too dangerous" he said "I'm still going" you said "Do I have to remind you that you're pregnant" he said "No, but I'm only two months pregnant, I'm not in the danger zone yet" you said "I don't care, you can still get hurt, and if you get hurt, the baby gets hurt" he said.

"Five" you grab his hands "I know you are scared and you still have nightmares about what happen back at the hotel, that it will happen again, but it's not. Don't treat me like I'm sick or fragile. We're in this together, okay" you put your hand on his cheek "Please" you said and he let out a sigh "You're going to come either way, right?" he asked and you nodded "Try and stop me" you said "Fine, but leave the fighting to us, okay" he said "But--" "It's either that or not coming with us, and I will tie you to something if I have to" he said "Fine" you nodded.

"Let's go guys" Diego said and and you all rushed out 

----

 You were looking out of the window as you and the others were all sitting in the van as Diego was driving down the road.

You didn't wanted to admit it, but you were scared. Scared in how this was going to end.

Your mind raced with a mix of fear and determination. This was your last chance and you knew that whatever happended next would change everything. This was a gamble, a dangerous, near-impossible mission, but you were ready to face it. For Five. For you both. This beautiful tragedy was yours to live, even if it was only for a fleeting moment.   

"Hey, you okay?" you turned your head to look at Five "It is wrong to be scared?" you asked "No" he shook his head "It's okay to be scared, it just show you that you are human" he explain before looking at you again "But don't worry, you know that I will do anything to keep you safe, I will protect you with my life, I promise" he said "You know that I can protect myself" you said "I know, but remember you are pregnant, so think about your child that is growing inside of you" he said and you nodded.

"No matter what happens" he stroke his thumb up and down on your knuckles.

"We're going to beat this together and everything is going to be okay" he said "We will, if we all fight together, we can beat this" you said and Five kissed your knuckles.

 "Soon this will be over and the two of us are going to finished that nursery and we're going to plan the rest of our wedding" he said and you smiled before you kissed.   

But then suddenly Diego stop when he saw the army "Well, that doesn't look good" Luther said.

"Quick, back down that alley so we're out of sight" Allison said to Diego who was sitting next to her.

Diego got ready to back but instead the van drove forward.

"Diego!" Allison said "Back up, you idiot!" Five hissed "What are you doing?" you asked "Back up" Five said "I'm trying" Diego said "What?" Luther and Allison asked as Diego tried to put the van in back gear. "That is not back up, that is forward" you said.

"Come on, you piece of shit" Diego hissed but the van kept driving forward towards the army.

Diego hit the front which made the radio to start playing baby shark which cause the army to look at them.

"What are you doing?" Klaus asked "Hit the brakes!" Lila said "I'm trying!" Diego said as he tried to hit the breaks but the van kept driving.

"It's not working!" he shouted.

"Come on, man! You're gonna get us killed!" Klaus said "Now would be an excellent time for somebody to do something!" Klaus.

As the van kept driving, it slid another car which made the sound of harsh metallic grating to be heard.

"Oh fuck!" Allison pulled the main breaks causing the van to stop "Shit!" Klaus said as they all jolted a little forward.

"God" Klaus said and Diego tried to start the van again causing the engine to start sputtering.

They all turned to the left to see the army who lifted up theirs guns.

"Oh" you and the others all said as Luther waved awkwardly "Hey" he smiled.

"For the love of God, shoot 'em" Gene said and they all started shooting.

Five grab you before pulling himself and you down as the others also just reach to ducked down so you didn't get hit as the bullets came flying towards the van.

While dodging the bullets, you and the others got out of the other side of the van.

"Go! GO! Go!" Luther said as you all took cover behind the van while the army kept shooting at the van.

"Hey! I just replaced those!" Diego shouted "Maybe you shouldn't have cheaped out on the brakes" Five said to him "To be fair, new ceramic pads on a vehicle this old is not a good investment" Luther said "Stop yapping and start doing!" Klaus shouted as he covered his ears.

"Like what? There's too many of them!" Allison shouted.

"Five, do the little blinky blinky and get us into the store" Klaus looked at Five.

"That doesn't work anymore" Five told him "You gotta try, Hon" you said as you were sitting next to him. "I can't, all right?" he said "I'll mimic your power. We'll do it together" Lila said.

"She is right Five, you can blink us out of here, into the shopping mall where Viktor is" you said "If I blink we're gonna end up in the subway" Five said "Do not think about the past" Lila said "Just focus on what you want to do! We need you right now, Five" you said.

"If you're gonna do something now would be the time" Allison said "Yeah!" Luther nodded.

"Our family needs you" you grab his collar so he was looking at you "I need you" you pressed your lips against his.

"Now is not the time to be all lovely" Allison shouted as you and Five pulled away.

"I believe in you" you stared into each other eyes.

Five then nodded "Hold on to me" he said and you and Lila hold on to Five while Klaus hold on to you as Diego hold on to Lila as Luther hold on to Diego and Allison hold on to Luther.

Five took a deep breath before used his powers, and together with Lila, they managed to blink you and the others away.

----

Five and Lila managed to blink you and the others into the huge shopping center where Viktor was with Ben and Jennifer.

"What the...." Luther said as you all fell backwards when you landed in the building.

"I knew you could do it Hon" you smiled "Yeah great job Five" Luther said as you all got up.

"What is that?" Klaus pointed and you all turned around to see Ben but he didn't look like himself.

"God, I think it's Ben!" Allison said with widened eyes.

"VIKTOR!" you shouted as you saw Viktor laying on the floor with a cut by his eyebrow where some blood was bleeding down. "Stay where you are!" Viktor got up "Viktor, you're hurt. Come here" Luther said.

"No, I'm fine!" Viktor stumble a bit as he got to his feet "Just don't touch Ben!" he said before he turned to look at Ben again.

Then a harsh grating wheezing sound was heard and you saw Jennifer but she looked just like Ben, kinda like a swamp creature.

"Is that Jennifer?" Allison asked "Get away from him!" Jennifer shouted but with another kind of voice.

"Ben, please. Please let me help you" Viktor step closer to Ben "Leave now" Ben said with a distorted voice "I...I can't control it" he said with his normal voice.

"I don't wanna hurt you" he said as Viktor approached him.

Viktor then grab Ben's right arm which cause energy crackling, humming to be heard as Viktor tried to take the marigold from Ben.

"What's he doing?" Luther asked "He's pulling out the Durango" you said "Viktor, let him go!" Allison shouted "I can save him!" Viktor shouted.

Then suddenly Ben pushed Viktor out of the way as a bullet came flying and it hit Ben just as Jennifer touch Ben's shoulder from behind causing energy crackles to be heard.

Ben let out a groan as the bullet hit him causing him to fell backwards into Jennifer's arms.

The sound of noisome chirring was heard as Jennifer's face merge with Ben's causing guttural growling to be heard as the two merge into one giant creature.

"Oh god" Klaus said as you all watch the creature transform "Oh my God!" Klaus said "That's not good" Five said "It's big now" you said.

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