Fireproof

It took Klaus a while to sneak away from the rest of the ‘family’ and even when he managed to get to his bedroom without Kenzie following him, a sharp glance from Ben just twisted the knot in his stomach more painfully. Their apartment was full tonight, it was October 1st and Vanya brought Sophie over for movies, Dave and Liev also joined them so between the 5 people someone should be able to keep Kenzie busy for a little while.

He had been dreading this - A strange feeling of obligation pushed him forward and he punched in the number on his phone. He sat back on the bed and curled his knees into his chest - she wouldn’t pick up. Why would she? So why was he even worried?

He waited, listening to the rings repeating loudly in his ear. After the 5th ring he gave up and sighed. Partially out of relief and also a deep guilt and sadness that had been nagging him more and more lately.

So when the phone clicked and a hesitant “Hello?” Came through, Klaus inhaled sharply, and he leaned forward, unable to believe his the voice he was hearing.

“Allison?” He breathed out. In a voice much softer than he had intended.

There was a pause and Klaus wondered if she had heard him.

“This is her - Who am I speaking to?”

Klaus sat back and took a deep breath - his heart was pounding hard in his chest, “Allison? It’s Klaus.”

He could almost hear her sigh of annoyance, “I’m assuming that since you went through all the trouble to get this number, you’re desperate - what’s going on?”

“Nothing - Nothings going on, I just haven’t talked to you in years. I wanted to say ‘happy birthday.”

He tried to imagine what she was doing - what she was doing with her evening. He could hear the sounds of birds, so he imagined that she was sitting out on a balcony, maybe having just pulled away from a party. He had seen pictures of her beautiful Hollywood mansion in the magazines and noticed the many balconies that she owned – facing out over a bright cityscape.

“Okay… Happy birthday.”

She had no reason to stay on the phone with her addict brother who had dropped off the map after their last fight and only called when he needed money. He decided to cut straight to the chase because he didn’t want her to go away yet.

“I’m a shitty trash person and you should have rumored me to go fuck myself.” He said quickly- the words falling out before he could stop them.

It worked because for a second, Klaus thought he could hear a briefly confused laugh, “What?”

“The last time we talked - I was a piece of shit and I’m sorry… I get that I might not be able talk to you again for 7 more years, so I just wanted to get that out.”

He heard a door open from the other side and a quick increase in social volume which disappeared again as Allison muttered something, probably shooing away whoever interrupted her phone call.

“Where is this coming from? Are you okay?”

Despite the sudden intense concern in her voice he laughed, “This isn’t a ‘I have a brain tumor’ call - It’s just a brother apologizing for being a little shit. Don’t be so surprised! I’ve apologized before… I think?” he smiled, and he hoped that she was smiling on the other side.

If she was smiling, it must have faded because there wasn’t much humor in her voice when she spoke again, “Okay… Do you-- Do you need money or?”

Klaus dropped the phone to his thigh, suddenly a little annoyed - although she had every reason to think that this was his real reason for calling. Rather than answer, he ignored her question and just continued on with the conversation, “How is Claire doing? I’ve seen pictures of her in the magazines with you- She’s turning two soon, right?”

Klaus heard shuffling and he imagined her finally settling down on what was probably a very expensive table and chair set.

It took Allison a while to answer, “Yeah - She’s two in December. She’s- uh - she’s perfect in every way.”

Klaus smiled and leaned into the receiver, “I’ll bet she is - I saw when she was born in “People” and I just - “ He pressed his hand against his chest like she would be able to hear the gesture, “She’s adorable - I knew that you’d be a great mother.”

Klaus had saved the magazine and hidden it in one of his drawers - the same place he stashed Diego’s fighting flyers, Vanya’s concert reviews, News clippings from Luther’s missions and anything having to do with the fire station. It gave him a sense of family even though they were all still very cracked and far away from each other.

“Well, she makes it easy - It’s nice… Making new family memories - separating from the old ones that aren’t so great.”

Klaus felt that in his soul, “I couldn’t agree more - I - What kind of memories are you making today? Are they better than the customary - “ He altered into his over the top impression of their father “It has been one year since your last birthday - here is how you all could improve you dumb little shits.”

Allison actually laughed at this - she always did when they were kids as well, “Well, I woke up to a fantastic breakfast in bed courtesy of my daughter (with a little help from Patrick) and we’ve been shopping and now I’m at a birthday party so - Yeah, pretty nice. What about you? What kind of new memories are you making these days?”

Klaus thought briefly through his day;

It was around 4 in the morning when he made it to his particular corner in the city after working all night. He rubbed his hands together and blew into them for warmth, his knees shaking slightly in his skintight pants. When a small red truck slowed down and pulled to the curb, he couldn’t hide the grin that crept across his face. The passenger side window rolled down and Klaus approached - leaning against the vehicle and glancing inside.

Dave held up a large Tupperware box of pastries from the seat, “What’ll you give me for these?” He asked with a smirk.

“Anything you damn well want.”

Klaus opened the door and hopped inside. The warmed seat, the toasty air and the familiar scent of Dave’s aftershave made him melt; he rolled his head back against the seat and sighed. The other man watched him as he soaked up the heat and waited for the shivering to pass.

Dave set the box of baked goods into his lap, “I’ll keep that in mind - Happy birthday by the way.”

Klaus groaned, “Who spilled the beans?”

“The comic book shop down the street.”

“Price of fame I suppose...”

Dave shifted into drive and they began to roll forward, “Try a scone - you’ll feel better, I promise.”

Klaus raised an eyebrow but opened the pastry box and pulled out a cranberry scone, he inspected it critically then took a bite. Dave watched him from the corner of his eye as he chewed then moaned pornographically, “Oh my god…”

“What did I tell you?”

He leaned over and pressed a firm (strictly platonic) kiss against the driver’s head, “Dave- I know I’ve asked everyone in the department, but will you marry me?” He fluttered his eyelashes and bit again into the heavenly pastry.

“You only want me for my baking skills.”

“That’s not true! You also make a mean matzoh ball soup.” He chef kissed the air.

“I won’t be your pastry whore, Klaus.”

Klaus threw a faux tantrum and stomped his feet, “Why not!? I’d treat you so good - be your sugar daddy. Literally.” He snorted.

He fell against Dave’s shoulder and giggled, holding tightly to the box of baked goods. Dave laughed and rested his chin on Klaus’ curls, shaking his head as he did so.

“How was your night?” Dave asked as Klaus rolled back into his seat. It killed Klaus how genuine he was when he asked it.

He told him - he left out some of the details but as always Dave just rolled with stories and asked questions. Klaus could have talked to him forever but at some point after Dave turned on some classic rock station, he drifted away - feeling warm and safe next to the firefighter.

He woke up with a soft hand on his shoulder and Dave’s barely audible voice saying, “We’re home.”

“My birthday started with the most--” He chef kissed the air, “Delectable scone courtesy of this sexy, sexy firefighter.”

His heartbeat loudly in his chest, “Let’s see… What happened next..?”

“Momma…?” Kenzie whispered loudly as she cracked his bedroom door open, she looked inside, and Klaus opened one eye and smiled. He was curled up under about three blankets (It always took him a long time to get warm after working outside) and had been contemplating just getting up anyway because he couldn’t get his brain to shut the fuck up.

Upon seeing that he was awake, she threw the door open and ran forward. He opened his arms just as she jumped underneath the blanket and wrapped her in a hug. She snuggled into his chest. He could have kept her there forever because she was the warmest (literally) person in the world and it took a lot to warm his bones. She stayed there for a while but just as Klaus thought she fell back to sleep she pulled away and sat up, taking half of the covers with her.

“Happy birthday!” She shoved a piece of paper at him, smiling proudly.

He settled on his elbow to inspect the halved piece of white construction paper. In blue crayon there was a crude representation of Ben, next to him was a taller figure with his hands out (HELLO and GOODBYE) and a pointy pink party hat on his perfectly round head, between them was a shorter person with horns. They were standing in front of a lopsided red building surrounded by stick figures with rounded yellow hats. At the bottom was a scrawled “Hapy Berthday!”

He held it to his chest, “You know art is the way to my heart! It’s beautiful, pumpkin!” He reached out and pushed her hair out of her face, “Best birthday ever!”

“Then I woke up to the best, warmest hug from my daughter - and it was perfect.”

He felt like she had been nodding along but then she went still again, “What?”

It was Klaus’ turn to go silent for several moments, “My Kenzie.” He admitted flatly.

He heard Allison shift in her seat and when she spoke her voice had the original venom in it, “Klaus - You didn’t.” She begged.

“Oh, don’t be like that- Just because I was finally first in something- miss ‘movie star’, well guess what? I beat you in having babies.” He said it with a forced humor that was lost in his nervous shaking voice.

“Don’t. Klaus, this isn’t right.”

In some weird way it warmed his heart that she knew that Kenzie existed for a whole two seconds and she was already protective of her.

“I’m sober.” He said quickly before she could completely freak out. He swallowed, “I’ve been sober since she was born. Promise. She’s not being raised in a drug den - Ben wouldn’t have it.”

Allison scoffed. When Klaus didn’t answer she spoke again, “Wait, you’re serious.”

“Yes! Listen - I’m sober and I grew this little spud and now she’s got opinions and a personality and shit -” He laughed, “It’s incredible!”

“Holy shit- “

He shifted forward in the bed and grabbed a pillow, “I wanted to tell you! Oh - but you know how it is - the years just slipped away and you had no reason to take my call so I just kept pictures from the magazines and told Kenzie stories about you because I always wanted you to be a part of all this.” He exhaled, suddenly unsure of where that all came from.

Klaus thought she was going to hang up the phone but instead she let out an impressed huff, “How old is she?”

“She’s turning 5 on the 31st .”

Allison laughed, and Klaus’ face twisted in confusion, his nerves shot from this conversation “Of course you’d have the Halloween baby.”

He grinned, “Little too ‘on the nose’?”

“Just-- perfect.”

He heard a door opening from somewhere in the background and a voice that he didn’t recognize. His breath hitched as he realized that someone was asking for her just as they started becoming more comfortable, “You have to leave?”

There was a long pause on the other end, “No- I don’t have to go – Patrick was just dropping off Claire.”

Klaus sat up in bed – his eyes scanning the area and when he spoke his voice was more frantic than he had intended, “Can you tell her that I love her? And that I’m sorry I haven’t met her yet?” He waited with bated breath.

“I mean- you can tell her yourself. She’s not talking much sense yet but maybe you two just have that in common.” Allison laughed.

Klaus covered his mouth in excitement as he heard the phone being put down and a distant ‘come here, Claire – someone wants to talk to you. Yeah – on the phone – come here sweetheart.’. There was a loud shuffling sound as Allison pulled the toddler onto her lap.

Klaus pressed the phone against his ear then immediately had to pull it away as an ear-piercing “HELLO!” Came through suddenly.

He heard Allison in the background, “Sweetie, you don’t have to talk so loud.”

There was a little back and forth then she said- still remarkably close to the phone “Hello!” A little softer but just as enthusiastic.

“Claire!?”

“Uh-huh.”

Why was he getting so emotional about this conversation? What had Satan done to him? Is what he thought as he had to pause and swallow, so his voice didn’t break as he spoke, “Hi, Claire! It’s your favorite uncle Klaus! We haven’t met yet, but I can’t wait to see you someday! How are you?”

He went quiet as she listed off and yelled a mostly incoherent string of sentences where within he could only pick up a few words like “Cake” and “Momma” and a particularly loud and distracted “WHAT IS THAT!?” followed by Allison’s deeply amused “That’s a squirrel, love.” Klaus listened and hummed along with her babbles for a while until they soon became more and more random as she got bored talking with the little rectangle.

“I think you’ve managed to out-talk your uncle Klaus – that’s impressive.” He heard Allison from the other side.

“Claire? I love you! I’ll see you someday soon, okay? You keep your mom on her toes for me in the meantime. Bye-Bye!”

“Bye- bye!” She repeated and Klaus did a little wave even though she couldn’t see him.

There was another shuffling on the other side and after a moment he heard Allison sigh and come back to the phone, “She’s uh- on her way to bigger and better things, I’m afraid.” Klaus imagined that she was smiling and watching as Claire went back inside with all the people, pretty lights, and music.

“Thank you, Allison.”

“Yeah, of course. I don’t hate you- It’s just…” She stopped and Klaus cycled through the all the things that she might say; such as – “You’re a cunt.” Or “You’re selfish” or “drugs are a nightmare.” But what she said was “It’s good be actually talking to you – and not the drugs.”

“Is Kenzie with you? Do you have partial custody of her or?”

“Oh, no – I’ve got full custody. Her- the other parent works in big time management, so they don’t have much time for her. She’s in the other room—” He stood up and opened his bedroom door following the sounds of frantic thumping and shrieking. In the living room Kenzie was chasing Dave around in a circle holding Rot-rot in front of her as she ran after a seemingly terrified full-grown man.

“Torturing someone.”

He leaned against the doorway and watched the scene play out; Liev and Ben were sitting at the kitchen table with a chess board between them. Liev moved a piece and then clapped their hands, “Check mate!” They announced and Ben threw his hands up.

“Again!?”

Vanya and Sophie were sitting comfortably on the couch and watching the show – the show being Dave’s torment at the hands of a four-year-old wielding a blood fiend possessed doll. She shrieked in giggles as he bolted away, begging for mercy then taking a coordinated tumble to the floor.

“Just having a relaxing evening, you know.” He said, unable to hide a grin as he watched the chaos ensue in his apartment.

“Could I- could I talk to her?” Allison had the audacity to sound shy for a moment – as if she hadn’t just allowed the man who had actively stolen from her for drugs to speak with his niece.

“Hm – let me see if she’s free.”

Dave was on his stomach with his head covered laughing and Kenzie snuck up on him to pounce, “Kenzie!” Klaus called in a 40’s housewife voice. She stopped her attack and looked up at her father, “There’s someone that wants to talk to you, spare a moment?”

“Okay!” She shoved Rot-rot next to Dave’s face and he legitimately jumped and rolled away as it made a brief growling sound. He rolled over onto his elbows with a grin. Klaus flashed him a quick wink before taking Kenzie into the bedroom.

He sat her down, “Kenzie, someone very special wants to talk to you – someone famous!”

She gasped and grabbed the phone out of his hand, “Hello!?”

Klaus got up on the bed and watched her as he mouth dropped open, “Aunt Allison!?” He rolled back and giggled at her excitement.

“I’ve seen you in the movies…”

“I liked it when you were the princess – that’s my favorite. Momma got me the DVD and I can watch it before bed.”

“I wish that I could meet you for real, too!”

Klaus waited patiently as they chatted, unfortunately unable to hear Allison on the other side but he could guess just based on Kenzie’s reactions what they were talking about. Eventually Kenzie nodded and said solemnly, “Okay.”

“I love you too – “then “Thank you” then “Bye-bye”

She handed the phone to him, and he pulled it to his ear “You have to go, I assume?”

“Yeah.” Allison laughed, “I can’t believe that I’m an aunt…” She said sounding slightly amazed.

“Yeah, no shit – imagine how I felt when she showed up and started demanding food.” He winked and Kenzie scooted under his arm, listening to the call as best as she could.

“I’m glad that you called, Klaus and I’m sorry that I didn’t pick up sooner.”

Klaus rolled his head over Kenzie’s, staring off into the wall “We both know that’s my fault.”

The external sounds from the phone were getting louder and he could tell that she was being pulled back into the party.

“Send me pictures, okay? I want to see what she looks like.”

“Just imagine 5-year-old me in a wig and you’ll be pretty close.” Then he added in a more serious tone, “But I will. Talk soon?”

“Talk soon.”

The phone went dead, and he let it fall to his lap. Kenzie was watching him intently as he recovered from the shock that Allison actually picked up and for the first time in so many years, he was able to have a conversation with her that didn’t end in someone calling somebody else a bitch.

He was caught up in the strange mixture of elation and the disappointment in the fact that they couldn’t talk longer. He wanted to tell her everything – he wanted to hear everything about her glamorous Hollywood life. He wanted to talk for hours just like they used to when they were kids and she was the only person who seemed to understand him. But maybe now there was a hope of that happening again.

Kenzie was staring at him from under his arm, “Did you have a good birthday?”

Klaus squished her to the side, “You keep asking that and I’ve told you a million times – every birthday with you has been the best birthday ever.” He paused, “Except maybe the first one- that one was rough, not gonna lie, but it every birthday since then? Exquisite.”

She hopped off the bed and grabbed his hand, “Are you coming back to the living room?”

He let her drag him up to his feet, “I’m coming- sorry for interrupting your very involved master plan of terror.”

As she led him back into the rest of the house he liked to imagine that Allison was doing the same- walking back to spend time with the people that she loved the most. Despite the fact that she was a famous movie star and he was just a recovered addict - the thought made it feel like they had something in common.

Because even though they were living opposite lives on opposite sides of the country - they were still brother and sister.