I almost titled this Chapter 'Epilogue Fail' because it turned into more of a second chapter rather than a little end piece. But, yeah. I hope the shift in POV is forgivable (from general in Ch1 to Klaus' in this) but I needed to add Ben and I wanted to deal with Klaus handling the situation- spoiler, not well! Again, please let me know of any tags to add, I will say there is a fair amount of mentions of vomiting (I'm surprised myself because I have dealt with emetephobia in the past so for me to use it like I did is a step even for me!) and mentions of Klaus' time in 'care'. No beta, all mistakes mine, all rights to owners, etc. Enjoy.

Klaus usually liked car journeys. They would help soothe him or calm him, to such a degree that his siblings had joked a number of times about him being like a baby. And they helped take him away. It was harder for ghosts to follow him if he was constantly on the move and whilst he still saw the dead littering the streets and sidewalks, he could pass them by with a wave or salute- or once even a 'So long suckers!'. But the journey that had taken them from Vanya's to Allison's apartments hadn't been quite as enjoyable for him. The whole time he had alternated between motion sickness, withdrawal and (to him at least) half consciousness. The latter scared his siblings because to them he had been absolutely out of it, dopey and vagrant and not in the usual 'High Klaus' way- he on the other hand, just thought he'd slept half the journey away. Ben told him that he had spoken to them in riddles and tongues, mistaken them for 'the bad men', trying to get away and out of the car. The times when his eyes rolled back into his head were apparently the worst, with them all thinking he was going to seize on them or worse, die. Ben also told him that Allison had had to calm Diego down from hyperventilating when Klaus had passed out at one point, his body sagging in his brother's arms and looking every bit a corpse.

When he had been awake, Klaus had felt the world spin around him and his stomach churn with it. Usually Diego was 'vomit and I'll kill you' (one thing he and Luther did have in common) but when Klaus had sat up in his arms and tried to hold the contents of his stomach in until they could find something for him to retch into, Diego had been the one to rub his back and try to distract him long enough for Vanya to find a bag without holes in it. He hadn't a solitary thing in him to begin with other than half a pint of water but he had seemed to clutch onto the bag for ages, his stomach protesting from the strain and acid it'd had to deal with. Allison had supplied water to him between bouts of sickness, gently pouring a few mouthfuls in as his body leant upright on Diego's shoulder, and soothed his drenched hair away from his head as best she could. Vanya wasn't really close enough to help with anything much so she fell to rubbing his legs up and down in comfort. Klaus' utterly exhausted body and mind then reduced him to sobs and he had known at the time that come a few hours later he would look back in shame. As he'd sat there between hiccups and gags and lost breaths he'd wished another round of sleep would come, just to take him away and make the pain and misery go away. He vaguely remembered being sat upright after another round of sickness and falling to pieces as everything crashed down on top of him; all the memories of where they had left, of his torture and time in Vietnam, of Dave, of dying at the rave and getting sober and bringing Ben back and then all that had happened since. He had had to relive part of one of the worst times of his life (and that was saying something in Klaus' life) but in this version he had been found and rescued and promised to be put back together.

Number Four felt a little selfish, given the fact that is was Vanya who needed the true attention right now and he had been the one just breaking down in the back seat of the car.

He didn't remember them pulling up to their new location because he had been in one of his stupors at the time but his trusty ghost recorder had managed to fill him in. Ben relayed how Luther had had to carry him in because the moment Diego got out of the car his legs had given out under him and Allison and Five had needed to support him up into the flat as Vanya unlocked doors and disposed of Klaus' dirty bags. They had laid him on the huge bed in Allison's bedroom, wiping away the sweat and vomit from his face and making sure he was comfortable. It had been staggered watches from then on, with one sibling staying in the room as the others slept or showered or tried to get on as they should. Plenty of times they had all ended up in the bedroom anyway, with Allison taking the opportunity to paint Klaus' nails and brush his hair and Vanya had apologised to them all and tried to make sense of her situation and Luther had just dropped to the floor and done who knew how many press-ups. Luther had earlier dragged the smaller mattress from a spare room and dumped it on the floor beside the bed in order to make Diego (who would absolutely not leave his brother's side) rest. A few minutes later he had been out like a light and Ben had desperately wanted to sharpie his face (Klaus had giggled at this, until he nearly threw up again). Since then it was the odd sibling keeping watch.

When Klaus had finally woken up it had been Five by his bedside but the lights were low and the curtains drawn shut and the littlest Hargreeves had been fast asleep- he was certain there'd be riots if the others found out. At first Klaus had panicked, being in a strange location with no idea what was going on until it all caught up with him and he panicked even more and had to stifle the harsh breaths that caught in his chest. That had been when Ben swooped in and did what Ben often did best- save Klaus from himself. His brother has soothed him until his breathing was easier and directed him to the glass of water on the little table to his left. He then made sure everything was ok and told him to kick Five if he needed someone but Klaus couldn't face anyone at the time and so he and Ben had fallen into their usual familiarity. It was during that time that Ben had told him everything that had happened, even the bits Klaus didn't need reminding on.

"Yeah Ben, I remember puking and crying in the back seat, no need to bring that up thanks bud."

"And that's about it. Vanya was on watch about 2 hours ago and then Five here came in. I'm pretty sure he's been close to dropping for ages anyway, what with jumping us all through time and then doing it again himself. He really is a stubborn old man, what is it with the men in this family!?"

Klaus was half leant up against the cushioned headboard, his head lolling to the side and mind not much clearer than it had been before. "Hey." His voice was slurred and even he knew it. "I'm not a stubborn old man!"

Ben didn't even miss a beat before he threw back, "No. You're just a stubborn man child. I'm not sure which is worse."

Klaus tried to stick his tongue out at his brother but it felt so heavy and there was no strength left within him at all.

This time when Ben spoke, it was much softer. "Hey. You could really do with getting someone you know, you're still in a really bad shape."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

Ben gave him a look that spoke volumes. It was the look he would give him when he woke up in the hospital. It was desperation and anguish and worked in varying degrees, alternating between giving Klaus a guilt trip and making him want to throw Ben, along with his pity party, out of the window. But if he was being honest, he really was in a bad way. His head was still full of cotton candy and his body ached but felt numb all at once and his stomach clenched and swirled in some conflicting messed up way. It was like the high of his drugs, but maybe from one of his bad trips where the drugs had been dodgy and weren't agreeing with him. He didn't feel like him and yet he felt himself all too much because everything was bad but even the light-headedness and floaty, vacant feeling wasn't helping him drift away.

The water he had swallowed not minutes before already bubbled in his stomach, forcing it's way back up and he knew it wouldn't be long before he was seeing it again. Finding some vestige of strength, he sat himself up a little more and looked around to see if his siblings had left anything for him to use. But the movement only worked to assist his rolling stomach and he choked as a taste of bile hit his throat. Luckily Diego, who had still been flat out beside the bed, must have heard the noise because within a few seconds the mattress dipped down next to Klaus and a bucket was placed in his lap.

"I got you bro. Just let it out."

Klaus wasted no time at all and didn't even get a chance to take a breath before he was bent double over the bucket. His mouth tasted awful and his throat and stomach burned once more. He was really getting fed up of this!

He could just about hear Diego talking but the thumping in his head and the whistling in his ears drowned a lot of it out. He couldn't stop and there was no time to breath between retches and he knew he was making some sort of terrifying gasping sound as his insides were burnt and torn.

There was a cacophony of noise around him and movement and he didn't know what was happening only that there were far more people around him now and they were all panicking and fussing. He hated it, he hated it all and when the need to vomit dissipated a little he let his head fall forward.

Looking into the bucket (ew! he wished he had the strength to move it back up because, ew!) he saw the possible reason why there was panic.

"You guys. I's fine." He slurred.

"Fine!? Klaus, you're bringing up blood!" Allison was holding a damp cloth to the back of his neck and it felt like heaven., but he could feel her hand trembling as she held it there.

Ben managed to warn him against shaking his head a second before he was about to- angel!- and so he flicked his hand in an unflustered manner. "I've done it 'fore. I's just...it's just from over..." He made the action with his hand rather than saying it out loud.

"I've read about that." Five piped up from somewhere, obviously now awake. "Sometimes if there's too much strain on a person's oesophagus, it can tear. Hence the blood."

Vanya seemed a little cautious when she spoke. "I guess, I guess it's not like it's a lot. Just a few blobs."

Oh god. This was another reason he continually stayed high, he didn't have to deal with this kind of misery, and especially getting clean around other people. "Can we stop disc'sing my..." Yeah, he had to stop again as another wave swept through him, though this one passed relatively quickly, without any loss of contents and he gave a small 'whoop' when he could breath again.

He managed to lift his head a little but only found the eyes of Ben who had knelt down so he could see Klaus' drooped form. He smiled at the empty space, his eyes heavy and his body tingling.

"Tell them." Ben said, nodding to the group.

Klaus frowned, muttering, "You tell them!"

"Tell us what? Come on Klaus, no secret sharing with Ben." Diego was still behind him, maybe no longer holding the bucket but hovering on the mattress, probably holding him up.

He sighed, or at least tried to but it came out as more of an exhausted breath. "That I'm really not doing too good."

"Durr." Five and Luther said together.

"Screw you." Again, he was slurring and his world was fogging around him. It was a possibility that he was swaying on the spot. "Erm...yeah, passing out now."

As the world fell away around him, he sensed the bucket taken from his lap and four arms behind him lower him gently onto the bed. The softness of the pillows and the warmth of a blanket and the blessing of a kiss on his warm forehead were the last things he felt.

"You keep scaring the crap out of us bro."

Diego was sat next to him on the huge bed and Klaus was pretty sure that all 7 siblings could sleep on this at once if they tried. But currently it was just his knife wielding brother who had leant himself up on Klaus' right side and had been since he woke up about an hour ago- the longest he had been awake since they had rescued him. They hadn't spoken much in that time, only little questions to make sure Klaus was doing ok and the odd jibe from the séance to let his brother know how annoyingly sweet he was being. Klaus had had a little conversation with Ben too but only another mini recap of his time out cold. So when Diego spoke up, in a voice that didn't feel it should be coming from the hard hearted vigilante, Klaus was a little shocked.

"Erm...sorry?"

Diego scoffed. "Sorry? You have nothing to be sorry for it's just, god, you keep going catatonic or emptying your guts until there's blood and it's horrifying to watch."

"I'm," Don't say 'used to it', don't say 'used to it', "used to it."

Shit.

"And that's not worrying in itself!"

"Look, I'm sorry it upsets you all Diego but it's fucking true. I've done this for years. I'm a junkie remember, the life of a junkie consists of lots of illness and weakness and just all around misery. Not only that but the constant barrage of ghosts puts a dampener on things. I've spent so much of my life in the gutter, even when I had a roof over my head, and I've managed without anyone's intervention before so it's literally only new and 'terrifying' for you guys."

Silence. "So it's not terrifying for you?" Klaus didn't respond but Diego just grew in vehemence. "Because I know you have all these walls and facades you hide behind but I saw your face ok, I saw it when they were dragging you out of that hospital and when you woke up for the first time or all the times after and you still thought you were there. And I saw you break down when you just wanted the pain to stop and you begged us to help you pass out again- which you probably don't remember by the way because you were so out of it- and I felt you gripping onto me and you cannot tell me there is not a small part of you that was and is still a scared fucking child because I may not know you as well as I want or hoped I did but I know when a person has been through hell. And yes. We may have only seen it for the first time today but we already want it to be the last and it just brought home the fact that we are all complete fucking screw ups!"

His body sat up and he threw a knife (where the hell did that come from!?) straight at the wall opposite in a fit of pure rage. Klaus was now looking at Diego's back as he breathed heavily in and out, his head bowed down in shame or defeat. He held out a hand, wanting so desperately to rub comforting circles on his brother's back, but fell short from his prone position and ended up just tapping Diego's lower left like a child patting a dog for the first time- heavy and awkward. At the touch, his brother turned slightly, catching his eye and trying to return Klaus' smile. They didn't say anything but for once it didn't feel awkward and after a few minutes Diego lowered himself back down until he was closer to Klaus' position.

"Mm comfy, intimate."

Diego was bolt upright again in an instant. "Ruined it."

"Aw come on D, you know I was only joking." He was, he really was, but he found himself craving their touches now. Whether it was having to relive his time of being alone, of having just his mind and ghosts being his only companionship, or some strange sense of addiction to the sudden touches and familial contact he had gotten in the last few hours, but he found himself reaching out for the warmth of a sibling's thigh, or the touch of their rising and falling chests. He liked that Diego was laid next to him, that he could feel the material of his trouser leg rubbing against his own lower calf as it bounced with nervous energy. Klaus' hand found Diego's and squeezed.

"You ok?" His brother's voice had lost all its anger from the previous outburst. Now it was a whisper.

Klaus nodded but dislodged a few tears as he did.

"Liar." Ben's voice came from behind him. In reply he hissed over his shoulder and elicited chuckles from both of his siblings.

"Ben?" Diego asked.

"Yeah."

"What's he saying?"

As Klaus opened his mouth to send some sarcastic reply back, Ben butted in. "Just tell him. Klaus, he's seen you at your lowest, it's only up from here."

Klaus looked at the sheets beneath him in shame, his eyelids fluttering as he tried to compose himself. In the end, he was half mumbling to the striped material rather than Diego. "I'm tired D. I feel like I'm going to burst again but I haven't the energy and I'm so sick of crying. It's like everything's been ripped out of me and I'm empty and I don't know what to do. I don't know if I want to think about tomorrow or next week or anything after because I don't know how to make it through today. I hold onto you, or Allison squeezes me or Vanya rubs my legs and I crave it and it's something I've never had and I love it and I want more but I don't want to get used to it because it won't stay, things never stay good." A pause. "And why would I deserve 'good' anyway?"

Diego didn't say anything; he didn't cry and he didn't get angry again. Instead he gave a firm squeeze back to the hand held in his.

Klaus had royally fucked up. He'd opened up and Diego had shut down. He'd broken him just as he had broken himself. They didn't say anything and even though Diego didn't exactly pull away, Klaus could feel his weight shift and his touch falter.

"Give him time. He's got a lot to process." Ben whispered from beside him and all Klaus could do was stare into his eyes, so full of hope and promise, because if there was anyone going to keep him from falling into the pit completely, it was Ben. Knowing he was hidden from Diego's view as he looked at his dead brother, he let tears slip from his eyes and puddle on the bed beside him. His chin wobbled and his heart stuttered and took the breath from his throat.

It must have been an age before anything else happened, at least that's what it felt like to Klaus. He had closed his eyes and tried to fight off the memories that assaulted his mind when a stutter came from his right. "I..I l-l-l-love. You."

Klaus just let the memories take hold because it couldn't have been right, and even if it was, he wouldn't know how to respond.

And then, more firmly. "I love you brother. And you deserve all the good in the world."

The floodgates broke and he found some reserve of energy to turn over and curl into Diego's side and cry. The warmth was like a beacon and he latched onto it as he felt Diego's arms latch onto him.

As the tears passed neither brother moved but kept a firm hold on the other. Klaus could see Ben from the corner of his eye, now perched on the bottom of the bed near their feet. He was nodding to Klaus with his own teary eyed look and god did Klaus wish he could manifest him and hold him and never let go.

They were laid in a comfortable silence when Diego swallowed and Klaus knew something else was coming. "I was terrified you know?"

Klaus just looked up slightly.

"When we watched the video tape of them taking you away. I watched you struggle and I heard you yelling and fighting and I wanted to pull them away and just make sure you were safe. I never knew how much it would kill me to see that, to feel utter helplessness. You cried out and I went cold. And then when we found you in that room, I saw you and I thought you were dead, that we'd failed you, that I'd failed you. And all the time since I've been here and I've not wanted to let you out of my sight and I've not wanted to feel the loss of you next to me because if I see you there and feel your, frankly, freezing skin then I know you're still here and we got you out. And it's ok to feel scared Klaus, it's ok to fall down and need lifting back up and you don't need to do it alone anymore. But you need to talk to us. We don't see everything like Ben does, and sometimes we're stupid," Klaus snorted and Diego gave him an affectionate hit. "So you need to talk to us and tell us when you need a hand to hold or, damn it, even tying up! But you let us know. I'm pretty sure that one thing this whole apocalypse episode has taught us is that this whole family needs to open up more. We need to be a family and not just a haphazardly assembled team.

"Academy Assemble!" Klaus whispered, but was able to put some heart behind it and a light chuckle.

Diego laughed too, but more of a 'Did I really just hear that?' way. He sobered up pretty quickly though to ask. "So, this happened? For real the first time? And you, what? Stayed there the entire time, alone, in that room and drugged up? Did Hargreeves ever come for you?"

Klaus understood that his brother was catching up and wanted to learn so he could move forward and help but this whole talking about the bad stuff wasn't really helping the mood. Regardless, Klaus carried on projecting like Ben wanted him to do and answered as truthfully as he dared. "Yeah. Obviously I don't remember a lot. I was knocked out for a good few days I think, when I woke up a lot of the bad street stuff was out of my system but the sedatives were still there. Worst thing was...I couldn't see Ben. He wasn't there even through the shitty drugs they'd used and that's saying something because I always see Ben. Even though I know he's dead, I never feel alone with him around, y'know!? I don't think I could have survived as long as I did without him."

Klaus stopped then, finding his dead brother's eyes and latching on. An hour without Ben felt like a week and remembering that time only made him want to take every inch of Ben's features and body and commit them to memory. He remembered lying on the bed, his limbs cuffed to the metal and screaming out his brother's name. The nurses had come in and knocked him out again, only for him to repeat it 2 hours later. And again. And again. A day or two passed and they just left him to scream himself sick. "After that, they stopped pumping me with shit, just left me to it. Thing is then, the ghosts came to play. The doc's kept assessing me and noted down how I needed longer due to my 'episodes' and for my wellbeing. I lost track of time after that, they walked me outside like a dog every now and then, made me eat when they realised I wasn't. I got moved to a slightly better room and Ben told me to behave because he knew how they wanted me to act, and what they were looking out for. He told me that at one point, my 'extended 28 days' was reduced to 21 on good behaviour and noticeable improvement so as much as I secretly fought the ghosts and another breakdown, I played up for them and my 21 went down to 14. At the end of it, good ol' Reggie met me at reception. He gave me the old telling off and warning and bundled me back in the car. Thought I'd wind up back at the Academy but he stopped the car on a corner in town and told me that the next time I was picked up, I'd have to suffer the consequences or bail myself out." He stopped, shame of what he was about to say next making him colour up. "I was back on drugs 1 hour later. And 5 hours after that I had completely forgotten I was fresh out of hell."

Beside him, he could feel Diego's heartbeat thumping, rising in tempo as his breathing grew heavier again. The hand that was holding Klaus' own tensed, growing tighter and tighter.

"Ow. Bro! Bro, I need that hand to wank." It was stupid but Klaus felt that his usual banter would snap Diego out of whatever mess he was getting into, and it felt more familiar to them.

Diego pulled away rather exaggeratedly. "Ew gross!" A second, and then. "I thought you were left handed?"

"Ambidextrous when it comes to that sort of thing. Least I took away something from that particular lesson Daddy made us learn!"

"You're disgusting." Surprisingly to both of them- though maybe not to Ben- Diego's hand came back and slotted right back into Klaus' and clasped down once more. "I want him dead. I want him to suffer and realise that we fell apart because he..."

"He screwed us over. He's the fuck up, not you, not Luther, not Ally. Not any of them! You said that earlier, you said about you all realising how messed up we were and you're right. But I need you to know that, for me at least, most of my shit happened because of him. And how were we meant to become loving siblings when we had his guidance. We weren't a family D, we were a bunch of kids thrown together and expected to make it."

His brother hummed. "When did you become a wise old owl?"

Klaus gasped in delight and sat up a little. "Did you know! A group of owls is called a Parliament, which comes from C.S. Lewis using it in one of his Narnia movies!?"

"Books." Diego and Ben corrected together.

"How do you know that?" Diego then asked.

"You remember me telling you that?" Ben said a second after, clear emotion in his voice.

Klaus shrugged. "Ben told me once. He was trying to distract me and became Encyclopedia Britannica."

A knock at the door turned all of their attention back to the present. Vanya stuck her head inside. "Hey."

As Vanya looked to Klaus her face softened even more and she came fully into the room, followed by the remaining Hargreeves' siblings. One by one they got themselves comfortable, some on the bed, some in the rather plush chairs dotted around the room, but all within a reasonable distance to Klaus.

"How you feeling sweet face?" Ally brushed a curl from his eye. He was still perched on an elbow but could feel himself starting to shake a little from the strain.

"Sweet face? Not heard that in a long time Al." Klaus' voice was soft and distant but his smile was genuine, as was the warmth in his chest. "I'll be good if someone can prop me up and Five hands me that glass of orange he's so kindly brought for me."

Said brother stuttered and stammered a little, looking put out. "But this is my...oh fine." And so once Luther and Diego had helped Klaus sit upright with his back on the headboard, pillows behind him and to the sides, Five almost shoved the glass in his hands. The juice was refreshing and tasted like nectar though there was a slight sting from his damaged insides but it was nothing he couldn't handle. He closed his eyes and lapped up the warmth he felt. Diego's leg was right beside his again and Allison had propped herself at the edge of the bed and had her arm around his neck, stroking his hair softly.

He still felt bad that all of the attention had switched from Vanya, and that needed to be addressed and fixed tomorrow but for now, he drank the last of Five's orange juice and got comfy.

"When I wake up next, I expect another nail painting session and movie night. Vanya gets to pick the movie and what we eat. Oh and can somebody please get me a toothbrush ready because my mouth tastes like Luther's ass died in it."

There were sniggers around the room and a quiet 'thanks' from Vanya. Ben fit himself into a space near Klaus and winked at him.

They had to deal with Reginald and the timeline, but that could wait a few more days. And then...

Then, they would kick both into eternity.

And thank you to all who have already left feedback and any who do so, it means a lot. I know this was basically just pure Klaus whump but I can't help it.

Thank you again for reading and I hope some of you enjoyed it. Take care lovely people. x