Fireproof

”Baby’s up - go do your thing, dad.” Ben stood over his brother and tapped him in the side with his foot.

Klaus was curled up in a little makeshift nest that he had created with an old towel and a blanket that another homeless person had given them. Kenzie, now barely a month old, was in her own basket bed just a few feet away. They were truly in what Ben would call dire straits, barely surviving one day at a time, however, the important thing was that Kenzie was healthy and happy despite the living conditions.

Klaus threw an arm over his face and groaned, he rolled over away from his brother, wrapping his arms around himself with a gruff whine. Klaus’ body was still severely bruised and battered from the attack on Halloween and his skin was littered with nasty, yellow and black marks. He looked like a skeleton and It seemed like his very bones were trembling out of his skin, one month sober and he was not looking great.

“Stop fucking calling me that.” He growled.

Ben moved to his other side, “Okay, fine, what do you want to be called?”

“She can call me Timothy Morgan the Tap dancing monkey for all I fucking care just not that.” He rolled away again, this time covering his ears as the baby’s cries became louder.

“Fair enough. Get your ass in gear, mom - your baby’s crying.”

Klaus rolled over to his hands and knees and glared up at his brother with green daggers, “Have I told you how much I hate everything about you today?” He gagged, ruining the effect and nearly crumbled to the ground, gripping on to his head protectively.

“Three times.”

“Just checking.”

He crawled over the tiled floor of the abandoned bathroom they were currently hiding in, to the baby and looked inside her little basket, she was wriggling and wailing angrily - “You could have spun the roulette wheel of parents but instead Uncle Ben’s got you out here with a crackhead - what does that say about him?” He croaked out.

A brief smirk flashed across Ben’s face, “She wants her momma, Klaus - you’ve got this.”

Klaus glowered at his brother then spoke directly to the infant, “Uncle Ben can go to hell, can’t he?” He cooed.

“Momma already did.”

****************************************************************************************************************

“Momma!”

Klaus had rolled off his bed and was on his feet before he knew what was happening - he glanced briefly at the clock which showed 1:06 A.M. He wasn’t working nights nearly as many times a week and he was still kind of getting used to the quiet.

“Pumpkin?” He turned on the light.

Kenzie was sitting up in bed actively crying while clinging onto Rot-rot, the blood fiend inside the doll clattered in worry and agitation that its kid was upset. Her red face was screwed up in fear and her hair was wild around her head.

“Kenzie, what’s wrong?”

“ Ng’ had a bad dream!” She hiccupped and reached out with both hands.

He pulled her out of bed and she clung onto his neck- still riding out waves of tears.

“And she didn’t even light anything on fire.” Ben said proudly from the side.

Klaus glanced around and sure enough, even the fire resistant blankets she was sleeping on seemed completely un-singed which was a miracle since the last time she had a nightmare she obliterated some stuffed toys and left a scorch mark on her wall. And that was with the fire resistant blankets surrounding her while she slept.

“That’s incredible! Look at you go!” He leaned back to look at her face, wiping away at the tears with his thumb. He pulled his fingers through her thick locks, brushing through the tangles and clearing it away from her nearly inch long horns.

He shifted her on his hip, “Do you want to tell me about it?”

She sniffed, rolling her head against his collarbone, “There was a- there was a mean man an’ I was running in a big house. It was dark and he was mad at me.” She whined and pressed closer against his robe “I couldn’t find you. Or uncle Ben. An’ he caught me an’ he was mad and then I woke up.”

“That sounds so scary! But it was just a dream, see? Me and uncle Ben are right here -” He nuzzled her sweetly, “And we’re not going anywhere - no mean man is going to get you.”

He didn’t tell her that the dream scared him too and he tried to hide the overwhelming guilt every time she had a nightmare. He knew what it was like to suffer from them, he knew what it was like to be afraid of going back to sleep. It made it feel like you had a monster in your own head waiting to pounce whenever you let your guard down. Did he give her that trait? Would she be just as susceptible to his fears and vices?

Kenzie pouted and just held on tighter, her eyes were wide as she remembered the nightmare. Klaus paced through the room, rocking her gently. There was no way she was going back to sleep immediately with how upset she was at the moment. “Hayworth and Perry gave us some of their magic tea that makes the nightmares go away, do you want to have some of that?”

She nodded.

“Okay, we’ll try that.”

Klaus brought a small blanket and took her into the kitchen where he set her down with some difficulty on a chair. He had said in the past to Ben with a fond smile ‘It’s like trying to rip a spider monkey off of me’.

He pressed a kiss to the top of her head as she protested, “I’m not going anywhere, little bit.”

He boiled the water and steeped the magic tea (It was a valerian root blend that Hayworth and Perry sell at their shop). He put the cup in front of the toddler and stirred it - 4 times to the right then 3 times to the left and recited a quick phrase that the witches printed on the box for sleep and peace. DId he believe that worked? No? But, hey, he didn’t know much and the “spell” always seemed to calm Kenzie down.

Klaus moved to the living room and turned on the TV, he turned it to a children’s program. Kenzie settled on his lap a few minutes later and he gave her the tea, she held the cup close between her palms and inhaled the calming steam. It was boiling hot but Kenzie sipped it down like it was ice water - the heat having no effect on her at all.

Klaus watched her as she zoned out, drinking her tea and watching the cartoons gently lighting up their little living room. He wondered how the hell he had ever been lucky enough to know her, how the hell did a selfish, terrified drug addict end up with someone he loved so much. And when did it become so easy to be around her - was that person inside of him the whole time or did she create him?

He knew it wasn’t always like this - he remembered better than anybody how bitter he had been after she was ‘born’ and how unfair he felt the whole situation had been. So many nights wishing that he had just left her at the police station, thinking that no one could possibly be worse for her than him. Then at some point those wishes stopped and he couldn’t imagine living a life without his daughter.

He still craved the drugs; the alcohol and he still felt the crushing weight of his own fears - crumbling his walls until he felt like they would completely consume him but there was nothing scarier than losing Kenzie. Finally he had something more world ending and terrifying than the corpses, the memories, the pain combined. He still felt like a failure - that never went away but at least he had a reason to try.

Klaus looked down and saw that the toddler’s eyes were beginning to flutter as she watched the TV. She was nearly finished with the magic tea and it had cooled down so he reached over and plucked it out of her hands before she could drop it. He set it to the side and clicked the TV off - she made a quick noise of protest but didn’t fight him anymore.

“Big bird’ll be there in the morning, pumpkin - I promise.”

Rather than jostling the child he let himself float upwards and curled his legs underneath him - they drifted back to her room. Klaus let himself fall until he was laying against the air with Kenzie curled up against his chest like a human hammock. He wished that he had this little trick when she was a little baby because maybe it was the gentle motion or maybe the feeling of weightlessness but this seemed to Kenzie’s happy place. It was Klaus’ too.

They swayed safely just a few feet above the ground and as Kenzie’s eyes began to droop Klaus started singing the only lullaby that he really knew - once so embarrassed that he really didn’t know any songs to sing to a baby, he had just started writing the lyrics down of songs that Kenzie seemed to like when watching movies together,

“Come stop your crying
It will be alright
Just take my hand
And hold it tight
I will protect you
From all around you
I will be here
Don't you cry
For one so small
You seem so strong
My arms will hold you
Keep you safe and warm
This bond between us
Can't be broken
I will be here
Don't you cry
'Cause you'll be in my heart
Yes, you'll be in my heart
From this day on
Now and forever more”

As he crooned the last word he glanced down to see that Kenzie was now peacefully sleeping, her face twitched softly as his voice faded but she did not wake up. He didn’t move for several moments, instead, just enjoying the comfortable and overwhelming peace he was feeling with Kenzie safe in his arms as they floated gently in the air.

Who would have thought a waste of space like Klaus Hargreeves would be lucky enough to be living in this moment? He thought absently as he rolled forward, keeping her tight to his chest as not to jostle her until he was standing just a couple of inches off the floor.

He reluctantly leaned down and settled her back into bed - tucking the horrifying abomination of nature under her arm and pulling her fire resistant blanket over her sleeping form. He watched her for a brief time before levitating away, careful not to make any stepping sounds.

He moved to her closet and pulled it open - the cause of the angry mumbling he had been hearing throughout their time (and maybe the reason for her nightmare if it had been wandering around along the edges of her room) was standing defiantly amongst her clothes.

The ghost had long, thinning hair that was plastered against it’s sunken, skeletal face. It’s eyes were warped- angry and crazed but too afraid to get any closer to the demon child sleeping on the other side of the room. However, when it saw Klaus it reached out - immediately desperate for his lifeforce.

Klaus didn’t move.

“Leave” He commanded and the ghost fell backwards into the closet wall - it disintegrated into a harmless blue mist and the soft angry mumbling ceased immediately.

Klaus closed the doors and clicked off the overhead light, leaving the fairy lights on against the ceiling basking the room in a soft, comfortable glow.

He kissed his “HELLO” palm and blew it out towards the sleeping little one,

“Momma loves you, Kenzie.”