Chapter Twenty Three:

Lotus found them in the living room once again, Five had returned from informing her of them leaving and he was standing in front of the group.

"I'm sorry." Allison shook her head, "Am I the only one that's sceptical here? I mean, how do you know all about what's his name."

"Harold Jenkins." Lotus grumbled, finding her seat on the bar stool. They all turned and looked at her, she frowned.

"You look..." Klaus blinked, "In a dress."

She huffed, her soaking wet hair dripping onto the ground. After Five had left her in the spare room, she had gone off to find a pair of pants. Instead she found Grace, wandering the attic alone. The women had brightened when she saw Lotus, and told her the same story she had listened to before Five had forced her to go to the Commission. She promised Lotus to bring a clean outfit to her room, insisting that she could no longer wait to have a shower and clean off her leg. When Lotus emerged from the shower, she found a sun dress folded on the bed. She groaned picking it up, it was a bright yellow and reached her knees. Nevertheless she wore it now, her ruff sneakers standing out against the bright colour yellow.

"Yah, yeah, whatever." She huffed, "Carry on."

Five shook his head and snapped his fingers, regaining the attention of his family. "Yes, Harold Jenkins. You know those lunatics who attacked the house?"

Klaus clicked his tongue, "Oh yeaah, I think I remember those guys."

"Yeah. The ones that attacked us while you were getting drunk." Diego chirped, glaring down at his tiny brother.

"Ya. Them. They were sent by the Temps Commission to stop me from coming back, and preventing the end of life on earth."

A crease formed in Allison's eyebrows, "The Temps what?"

Lotus sighed, "His former employer. Apparently they monitor everything time and space."

"Yes. To make sure that whatever is supposed to happen... happens. They believe the apocalypse is coming in three days, so I went to Commission headquarters and intercepted a message meant for said lunatics." He pulled out the small piece of paper from his pocket again and pointed at it, "Protect Harold Jenkins. So he must be responsible for the apocalypse."

There a long silent stretch where everyone just looked at each other, trying to make sense of everything that Five had just said. Allison's voice was the first to break the silence, "What do you mean Time and Space?"

"My skin is on fire!" Klaus groaned from the sidelines, Lotus shot I'm a concerned glare but he raised a hand and shook his head.

"Do you have any idea how insane this all sounds?" Allison questioned, an amused expression on her face. Five glared, "Do you know what else is insane?"

He waited, waiting for anybody to interrupt him, to tell him anything different. His eyes found Lotus', "I look like a 15 year old boy and Lotus, a new comer looks like a 16 year old girl! Klaus talks to the dead, and Luther thinks he's fooling everybody with that overcoat." The boy shook his head, "Everything about us has been insane. It always has been."

"He's got a point." Diego muttered.

"We didn't choose this life."

"No, we didn't." Lotus chimed in, "We're just living it."

Five nodded, he shifted on his feet and winced, it was a quick change in his demeanour and it seemed she was the only one who picked up on it.

"But last time we tried to stop it, we all died."

"Why is this time any different?" Allison crossed her arms, "Why shouldn't I go home to my daughter?"

"Because this time, I'm here and we have the name of the man responsible. Guys, we actually have the chance of saving the lives of billions of people." Five locked eyes with his sister, "Including Claire."

Allison tensed, "You know her name?"

"I do, and I'd like to live long enough to meet her."

Lotus grinned, "Let's get this bastard!"

Diego pushed off the wall he was leaning against, "You had me at Gerald Jenkins."

"Harold Jenkins."

"Whatever. I've already lost two people this week, I'm not losing anymore." He slipped a knife from a pocket in his shirt, Lotus still wasn't sure how he wasn't constantly cutting himself on the blades.

"And Luther?"

The big guy looked around, "Yeah, you go. I'm gonna stay and look through Dad's old files. I still think this has something to go with why Dad sent me to the moon."

Lotus slid off the bar stood and pursed her lips as she limped her way towards the doorframe, "Enough with the damn moon shit, Luther." She huffed, loosing count of how many times she's heard him say it. "Maybe we should let the world burn. I hope it's the moon that causes it, maybe it would shut you up."

"I don't have time for this." Five muttered rushing his way next to Lotus, she followed him around back and found Diego waiting by a car. Five got in the passenger seat and Lotus got in the back, a few minutes later they were also joined by Allison. The car engine roared to life and they were off, to where, she didn't know. The women who sat next to her sighed, her nails clicking against the car door.

"Does she look like you?"

Allison gave her a weird look, "What?"

"You're daughter." Lotus informed, "What's she like?"

She frowned, her eyes looking past Lotus and out the other window. She waited patiently for the women to respond, if she ever did. It wasn't Allison who answered, but Diego.

"She looks like her mom."

Allison rolled her eyes, "You don't even know what she looks like, Diego."

"Actually I do, since her and her father are on almost every magazine in the city."

His sister clicked her tongue, adverting her attention back on Lotus. "She's amazing." Allison said, eyes glowing. "Claire is everything to me, and she's just the best daughter in the world."

Lotus nodded, pursing her lips. "Is it nice, being able to have a family?"

"Yes... it's—" Allison trialed off, "Have you ever, you know, thought about it?"

It was something the girl had in fact thought about, the idea of meeting someone and having kids. But she knew it would never happen, not for someone like her. She looked 16 and didn't age, that wouldn't make sense if she met someone and they grew old while she didn't.

"Yah, I started thinking about it when I turned twenty two. I had a plan to meet someone, you know? And maybe that would be who I spent the rest of my life with." She shrugged her shoulders. "But than I remembered I look like a teenager and on top of that, after my twenty fifth birthday I discovered my power."

The car fell silent again and she regretted ever bringing the topic up, especially with two guys in the front seat. Diego leaned towards Five and mumbled something, igniting a conversation between them both. Allison gazed over at Lotus, "It's great, meeting somebody you know you'll love forever. But it's not all rainbows and sunshine, and sometimes you think you want something but you really don't"

"I can't change the way I am anyways." Lotus said as they pulled over on the road, staring out the window. "There's nothing I can do."

The engine turned off and Diego sighed from the front seat, "This dude has got to have a file."

Lotus found the police department sign on the side of a building, she nodded waiting for him to continue.

"We gotta get our hands on it."

"And your plan is what?" Allison questioned, crossing her arms, "Waltz right in there and ask for it?"

Diego shook his head, staring at her through the mirror. "I know the station like the back of my hand, sis. I've spent a lot of time inside."

"Handcuffed."

"Whatever. Here's the plan—"

"Plan?" Five glared at him, "I'm just gonna blink in and get the file."

"No, that's not— You don't know the ins and outs of this place, okay?" Diego huffed staring out the window, watching as officers and pedestrians walked by.

"I literally just did this yesterday." Five rolled his eyes.

"What?"

"My yesterday. Not your yesterday." The boy clarified, it'll take me two seconds, why don't I just go?"

"Listen to me, you are not going in there. I made a call, because that's what a leader does." And with that Diego swung open the door, "He leads."

The man hopped out and slammed the door shut, leaving the three of them alone in the car. Allison waited until her brother was out of sight before exiting the vehicle as well, Lotus followed her as Five decided to join them. They followed the women up the street until she stopped at a phone booth and began shoving quarters in the slot. Five walked over towards a wall and leaned against it, arms crossed. Lotus joined him, letting Allison have some privacy.

"Why didn't you just go get it?" Lotus asked him, "Since you don't normally listen to anybody but yourself?"

He sighed, "I'll let Diego have his fun. He has nothing else."

She frowned watching him, his hand was grabbing his side and his expression was a mix between trying to find a sense of calm and slight pain.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes."

"You don't seem alright."

His hands fell to his side and he glanced over at her, "How's the thigh?"

She shrugged, "I probably shouldn't put pressure on it but by the looks of it we'll all be dead in three days anyways, so I don't think it matters."

"We're gonna win, Lotus." He said softly, she blinked, taken aback by the sudden change in his voice. "We're gonna live to see the rest of this week and the rest of year. I'm not giving up."

She gave him an odd look, "You really aren't ok."

Lotus' gaze floated up, landing on a very smug looking Diego marching up the street towards them. Five pushed himself off the wall, "So?"

"You're welcome." The other brother protruded a beige colour file, Allison hung up the phone and walked over, grabbing the file and began to rifle threw it.

"Holy shit." She mumbled, "Harold Jenkins is Leonard Peabody."

Lotus looked around to see if she was the only one who wasn't piecing together the information, it looked like she was.

"Who's Leonard Peabody?"

"Vanya's boyfriend." Allison closed the file, hugging it close to her chest.

"That's not good." Lotus muttered, "But doesn't that sound like a fake name? I mean, Peabody..."

Diego pushed past Lotus and threw himself back into the car, "Come on, we have no time to waste. We need to find Vanya."

Allison rushed around to the passenger side and got in, "I know where he lives."

Lotus chewed on her lip nervously and nodded, she flopped down into the backseat and sighed. "Well, that's not creepy."