Fireproof

“Are you okay?” Ben asked softly as he leaned into the bathroom door where his brother was on his tiptoes inspecting a considerable bruise blossoming around his ribs.

Klaus’ head snapped to the side and he immediately dropped his shirt, “Oh, yeah, yeah – barely a scratch – I’ll, uh, change my corner tonight.”

Ben crossed his arms and frowned, “I get that she wanted to get back at dad, but I wish she would have thought about the repercussions of –”

Klaus waved him off and brushed past him, “It’s nothing! How could she have known, you know?”

Klaus wasn’t talking about the book or anything held within, he was barely talking about the fact that after it’s worldwide release, he had been getting a lot more negative attention. He wasn’t all that well known these days but now that so many of his past exploits had been unearthed people were coming out of the woodwork. Sometimes it was just a snicker and sometimes the harassment was more intense, hence the bruised ribs.

“You know, actually, I may be able to use this to my advantage – raise my prices a little, huh?” He grinned but Ben wasn’t convinced, especially as his line of sight shifted rapidly towards the ground.

“Are you still going to call Diego? It might be nice to have some help in case something goes wrong.”

The days before they had been going back and forth on calling Diego and telling him about Kenzie, they had also debated on doing the same thing with Allison. Klaus had basically dropped off the map when Kenzie was ‘born’ and he had wondered if anybody was looking for him or if they just thought he was dead. And wouldn’t it be nice for them to meet their niece?

Klaus’ head sort of twitched, he had been restless since he woke up, “You know- I don’t think I will - Maybe it’s for the best that we just stay out of--” He shook his hands like he was waving off excess water “--All that… Besides! We have our own family, don’t we? She has you, and we have Sophie and basically the entire fire department. We’re better off without them.”

Ben felt bad that he kind of agreed.

“Plus it lessens the risk that… You know…” He cringed just thinking about it.

“That someone will tell Reginald about her?”

“Exactamundo, brother.”

“I get that- but - They’re still our family. They’re Kenzie’s family.” He paused, “Just because Vanya--”

Klaus turned to face his brother, clearly trying to hide his agitation with this conversation, “Listen, they don’t want me. They probably think I’m dead and they’re all just a little more relieved than they were before.” He swung his hands out in finality like a conductor “Lets just let bygones be bygones!”

It was late Saturday morning and although Klaus had worked through the night, he actually had nothing else to do. The shop was open but they didn’t schedule him, he didn’t have any money to go shopping, and it was pouring outside. This was a completely new experience - at least when they were homeless Klaus was always working towards getting them their next shelter for the coming night.

Now, it was calm save for the rain hammering against the windows - and the occasional chirp from the baby. The apartment was still depressingly empty but with the help of the fire department there were now no less than 4 fire extinguishers attached to the wall and 5 smaller portable ones lined up in the kitchen. They also had a menagerie of fire resistant blankets, of all kinds to help in case she went all bonfire on them again.

Kenzie was currently on her stomach on a heavy blue fire resistant blanket, she was scooting herself around and letting out random syllables as she played with the few toys available. When Klaus came into the room she tilted her head up and stared at him, a cheeky grin spread across her face, “Ah! Na! Buu..” She said intently.

“How dare you say that about my mother.” Klaus plopped down next to her and rolled onto his back. He sighed, the fact that there was nothing to snort, smoke, or fight was actually putting him severely on edge.

She crawled slowly towards him, her chubby little body still getting used to its own functions, until she was leaning against his neck. She was drooling lightly but he ignored that as she reached over and carefully grabbed at his nose. “Woo - ah?”

“That’s my schnoz - love.”

Ben moved to the corner of the room and sat down watching the scene as she bonked her father strategically around the face while he listed off what she was currently poking or pulling.

“Eye.”

She poked it again.

“Ow.”

One more time.

“That’s the eyeball, snuggle bean, I need that.”

Ben laughed, it was strange to him how they felt like such a normal little family sometimes - Sure things were weird, it was a father, his dead ghost brother, his half demon baby, in a filthy little one bedroom but it still felt so complete. Like it was always supposed to be like this.

After a while, Klaus rolled over to his side to look at his brother, the baby rolled with him with a startled expression before settling on her back next to his stomach. “Ben, did dad ever tell you that he loved you?”

Ben snorted, “I don’t even think he was that sad when I died.” He tilted his head, “Why? Did dad tell you that he loved you?”

“No, he used to tell me that I was a waste of his time - Which I think was dad’s way of saying it.” Klaus laughed a little too hard and Ben cringed.

“Why would you even ask that?”

He shrugged, “We’re just not much of an ‘I love you’ kind of family are we?”

“I guess not, but when were we ever a ‘real’ family?”

Klaus didn’t respond instead he began to glance around the tiny room that they had decided would become Kenzie's when they finally have the chance to decorate. “I was thinking about having an owl theme - like some light grays and pinks, maybe?”

He twisted his head around, “She can have the toy area over there and we’ll put her bed on the back wall away from the closet where that dead factory worker is always wailing.” As if in response the ghost in the closet who had been stabbed and stored behind the thin white doors yelled bitterly.

Ben studied his brother, “It’s not too late to start saying ‘I love you’ to her, Klaus. We can be an ‘I love you’ family if we want to.”

The séance sighed, he pointed to the windows, “We can still have short curtains, as long as she can’t reach them, it’ll probably be fine…”

“Klaus.”

He threw his hand over his side, “What?!”

“She knows you love her.”

The other man pouted, “I’m sure she does, but- I don’t know - I’m not good at this! I don’t know what I’m doing… Dad always..”

“Yeah, and look how good Dad’s parenting style turned out - One kid on the moon, one with such an obsessive hero complex that he got kicked out of the police and now roams the streets like some discount batman, one moved away and refuses to talk to anybody, one turned into a heroin addict, one’s missing, one’s dead, and one just released a best selling novel describing how awful he was- I think even you would be hard pressed to fuck up more than dad at this point.”

“If anyone could possibly fuck up more than dad, it would be me - And Kenz’ will know that soon enough.”

“Don’t say that. At least you’re here for her - that’s more than a lot of kids get… Plus, you know, we don’t experiment on her or torture her so I feel like we’ve got a leg up already.”

Klaus settled his head against the crook of his arm and watched as Kenzie drooled and chewed on her set of toy keys, “Ugh, I hate that I love her this much… It’s gut-wrenching - honestly the worst.”

Ben smirked, “She’s definitely got you whipped, that’s for sure.”

Klaus rolled to his back again and giggled, “What am I doing, Ben?”

“Klaus, literally no one who has ever met you can even begin to comprehend that question. And, I hate to break this to you but she’s not going anywhere anytime soon so… If you’ve got something to tell you her need to start doing it now.”

Klaus went still for several moments before twisting around and picking the baby up, he held her floating above his face by her middle, she wiggled and stretched happily at the ride. She curled up around his palms and stayed there watching to see what he would do next. He exhaled deeply and looked into her bright green eyes.

“Kenzie Grace Hargreeves- I love you, very much.”

She laughed, she didn’t understand what he was saying but she was always happy to hear his voice. He did the same and Ben watched as his shoulders relaxed and for the first time in 9 months, he seemed to actually accept what was happening. Maybe it just took this long for all the drugs to get out of his system and it was just now hitting him that he was a father.

“Aww, that felt so good to say!” He grinned, staring up at her. She wiggled in response, “I love you, Kenzie! Momma loves you!” He repeated.

He looked at his brother “You’re right, Ben - Let’s be an ‘I love you’ kind of family!”

“Lets do it!” Ben cheered and moved a little closer to the moment, “Uncle Ben loves you too, Kenzie!”

Klaus flashed an enthusiastic face, “Did you hear that!? Uncle Ben loves you!” He curled his elbows and brought her back down to kiss her cheek, “But not as much as I do!” He cooed.

“Ahoogah! Bah!”

“Yes, we do!”

Ben wished more than anything that the rest of their family could see this side of Klaus - he was afraid that even if he could tell them, they wouldn't believe it.

Ben was on cloud nine when he noticed something and he sat back, his face falling, first in confusion and then in shock. He tilted his head and watched as his brother’s body lifted just a few inches off the ground and levitated there until no part of him was touching the floor. He was so enraptured by the baby that he didn’t even seem to notice.

“Klaus…”

His brother didn’t even look at him - so caught up in his epiphany.

“You’re floating.”

“What?” He looked around.

“Klaus, you are levitating off the ground!”

The other man’s face twisted in confusion then he looked around, and suddenly he realized what was happening. Fear washed over his face and he gasped.

“Holy shit!” He snapped and just like that it was gone. He fell heavy to the carpet with a thud, clutching the baby to his chest. The air around her flashed like a failed lighter spark but then went cool as soon as she realized that she was okay.

He laid there like a corpse for several moments like he was afraid that if he moved or spoke it would happen again. After a while of silence from both of them he turned his head slowly.

“Was that Kenzie…?” He asked in a hushed voice.

Ben’s mind raced through the scene over and over in his head - replaying the moment that Klaus started lifting off the floor- the light blue haze that surrounded him and the fact that Kenzie wasn’t floating away from him, she was just laying against him. He smirked a little, reminiscing on the harsh words that their father used to sling at Klaus and the irony of how this manifested.

Ben shook his head.

“I think that was you.”