Allison runs out early in the morning to rent a van. All seven of them--she'd like to leave some space for Ben even though he doesn't take up any physical space--wouldn't fit in their car, especially with all the luggage they'd be bringing with them. Luther packed minimally, but his clothes were so big that they took up much more space than anyone else's. Diego was taking his trunk with all his knives with them. For target practice, he said, but everyone knew that that boy could never rest, even if being a vigilante wasn't his day job. Allison knew she was high maintenance, having an extensive morning routine. She got used to the Hollywood life, and she was going to take it with her on vacation. She totaled three suitcases by herself. Klaus was just as high maintenance as his sister, feeling the need to bring an outfit for any possible situation they could find themselves in. He, too, had three of his own suitcases. Five only packed a suit (not his Academy uniform), his swimsuit, and a pair of pajamas. He only needed to bring a backpack. Vanya packed enough clothes for the days they would be gone and her violin case.

They left around eight in the morning, much to Klaus's dismay. He was not a morning person, practically being nocturnal. Everyone packed their bags in the trunk of the van. Five insisted on driving, "I don't entirely trust the rest of you," he said. Unfortunately, the front seat was a bench seat, so when Five pulled it up close enough for his thirteen-year-old legs to reach the pedals, only Klaus was able to scrunch himself up enough to fit in the front passenger seat. Klaus didn't mind, at least he got shotgun. Vanya and Allison sat behind them, talking and keeping each other entertained for the duration of the three-hour car ride. Luther and Diego sat awkwardly in the back, leaving a space in the middle between them, "for Ben," Luther told them.

The drive was long and quiet until they stopped at a rest stop halfway through their journey for breakfast. Luther filled up the gas tank, while the rest of them decided where they would eat. Diego found a diner up the street. They used to love going to Griddy's as kids, and this place looked similar. They walked through the front door, a bell ringing as they did. The place looked empty, save for two truckers sitting at the counter. "Hi, how many?" The waitress greeted them.

"Six." Diego said.

"Seven." Klaus corrected him. The waitress counted them mentally and was confused. "All right," she said, grabbing another menu, "right this way." She led them to a large, round booth at the back of the restaurant. They each ordered coffee, Diego and Five drinking theirs black. Klaus even ordered coffee for Ben, who sat in the empty space between him and Five. He ended up drinking Ben's coffee anyway. He always ordered something for Ben out of habit when he went out somewhere. Sometimes he forgot his brother was dead and that everyone else couldn't see him.

They each finished their meals and got back on the road, another hour and a half to go. Luther brought his CD collection with him, keeping it hidden in his coat pocket until he felt the time was right. Individual conversations had died down and they were all silently watching the scenery pass them by. He chose a CD he burned, a compilation of all their favorite songs they used to dance to when Hargreeves allowed them some free time. He passed the CD up to Allison, who smiled knowingly. She passed it up to Klaus, telling him to put it in the CD player. As soon as he heard what song it was, he turned the volume way up.

"Come on, guys. That's too loud. I'm trying to concentrate on the road." Five complained.

"You need to lighten up, old man." Klaus yelled over the loud music.

They listened to Tiffany's "I Think We're Alone Now," a classic in the Hargreeves' playlist, followed by some Queen, '90s pop, and a little bit of classical, as per Vanya's request. Luther was trying to rebuild their relationship after locking her up in the chamber. He thought this would be a small step forward. The "Phantom of the Opera" instrumental came on, and she smiled at him thankfully.

They ran out of songs and fell back into a comfortable silence. They were getting close to the cabin anyway. "Are we there yet?" Ben piped up from the back. Klaus pulled down his sun visor and opened the mirror to look back at him.

"Patience, dear brother." He smirked. This was ironic, because usually Klaus was the one who always asked if they were almost there whenever they took car rides together.

As they pulled up the driveway, Klaus flung open the car door, eager to stretch his legs. Luther popped the trunk and started taking their suitcases inside. Allison opened the front door, taking in the wooden smell of the cabin. She drew back the curtains, letting some natural light in. Klaus ran behind her and up the stairs yelling, "I get the master bedroom!" She laughed at her brother. There weren't enough rooms for all of them to have their own. She and Vanya agreed to share a room, giving them some girl time away from the boys. Five absolutely needed his own bedroom so as not to go completely insane with annoyance of the others. Luther and Diego weren't civil enough to share a bedroom. Diego said he'd rather sleep on the pull-out couch in the living room, so he did.

It was lunch time by the time they all got settled in and unpacked. Allison brought enough food for them to make lunch for that day and some snacks for the car ride, of which Klaus and Luther had already eaten most of them. Luther helped Allison put together sandwiches for them all to take as a picnic on the beach. Klaus admired the view from the back door. The back of the cabin faced the ocean. He took his shoes off and made his way to the beach before the others noticed he was gone, the white-hot sand burning the bottoms of his feet, the sun glaring off the ocean waves. He took and deep breath and sat down at the water's edge, just far enough from the water as not to get his pants wet. Ben crouched down next to him.

"I wish Dave were here to see all this. He talked all the time about wanting to live in a beach house when he got out of 'Nam. He would have loved this." Klaus smiled fondly.

"Are you going to be okay?" Ben wondered.

"Yeah, yeah I'll be okay. One day at a time. That's what they told me all the time in rehab, right?"

"You'll get to see him again, Klaus. You'll find him. You just need a little bit more practice." He said reassuringly.

"I know."

Back inside the cabin, Klaus heard Vanya practicing her violin. He loved hearing her play. It calmed him down when he was sad or stressed. She stopped playing suddenly, following her siblings who now caught up with Klaus, sandwiches in hand. Vanya handed Klaus his own sandwich. He thanked her.

"Can you bring your violin out and play some more?" He asked between bites. He cocked his head at her. "Please? For your favorite brother?"

She nodded and went back inside to grab her violin and her bow. She closed her eyes and began playing, getting lost in the music. When she was finished, everyone around her was silent. She opened her eyes to make sure they were all still there.

Klaus placed his hand on her leg. "That was beautiful."

"Wow." Allison whispered. "I never knew you could play like that."

"Did you guys never listen when she was practicing when we were growing up?" Five asked them. "Except for me and Klaus, none of you ever really paid attention."

"I guess we uh... had other stuff going on." Luther defended them.

Five looked over in Allison's direction knowingly. "Yeah. I figured."

They cleaned up and went back inside, except for Klaus, who stayed where he was. He said he wanted some peace and quiet. He noticed there weren't any ghosts around, except for Ben, but even Ben left him alone to go hang out with the rest of the family. Klaus needed some silence after the constant nagging he got at home from the ghosts that tended to follow him everywhere he went now that he was clean and sober. Klaus had been sober for almost a year now, but even then, he still had some tough days. Sometimes it was due to his cravings for drugs or alcohol coming back. He gave up any drugs he had hidden in his room to Diego, who also cleaned out the liquor cabinet to make sure Klaus wouldn't get tempted to fall off the wagon. Sometimes it was due to the volume of ghosts with which he was bombarded from the time he woke up, whether that was day or night, until he fell asleep again. Sometimes that lasted for days, plural.

Vanya came back out with a bottle in her hand. "Here's some sunscreen. Don't burn up out here. It's only Monday, and we're here for five more days." She ruffled his hair and left him by himself. Klaus took her advice. He walked back to the cabin's shed and found an umbrella and an old lounge chair and dragged them back to his spot by the water. He slathered himself in sunscreen, putting a little extra on his face and shoulders, which burnt the easiest. He started to drift off to sleep, the sound of the waves crashing on the shore sending him further to rest.

Diego was sent out around six o'clock that evening to go collect his brother for dinner. They were going out to another diner, having not gone grocery shopping yet. That could wait until tomorrow. He shook Klaus's shoulder until Klaus started to blink his eyes open.

"What'd I miss?" Klaus asked, his voice still raspy from sleep.

"Come on, we're going out for dinner." He pulled Klaus to his feet. "You got a little redness on your face, right here under your eyes."

"Dammit, I must've missed a spot." Klaus pulled his shoes back on and followed Diego back into the house.

"You alright?" Allison asked Klaus as he passed her walking out the front door.

Klaus hesitated, thinking. "I'm really good, actually." He smiled lazily at her and she smiled too, patting him on the back. Klaus and Allison weren't the closest growing up, but it didn't mean she never cared about him. Allison secretly wished she had come home when she heard about Klaus's multiple trips to the ER and to rehab. She did pay off most of his bills for him. He never knew. She felt too swept up in her life in LA, and in having her own family to take care of now, but she still wished she had gone home to visit more often. Allison felt that she detached herself because she didn't want to be a part of the Umbrella Academy anymore. She wanted to make a new life for herself. Unfortunately, that meant abandoning her old life in the process.

They all piled back into the van, Luther driving this time. Allison sat up front with him. Five, Diego, and Vanya sat in the middle section, all squished together. Klaus sat with Ben in the back, having a conversation all their own. They sat down at a table in the diner and ordered, of course ordering something for Ben as well. They didn't have much to talk about. A diner was no place to start rebuilding relationships. It wasn't exactly an awkward silence between them, but they all secretly wished someone would start a conversation. About anything. Ben picked up on this and told Klaus what to tell the others.

"Hey guys, Ben wants to know what we're going to do this week."

"There's history museum we passed that I think could be interesting." Five input.

"No!" The others all said in unison.

"Please, I don't want to learn on vacation. We're supposed to be having fun." Klaus complained.

"I think we should get up early tomorrow morning and watch the sunrise." Luther suggested.

"No offense, Luther, but no one wants to wake up early on vacation." Allison said. "But we should go swimming tomorrow."

Luther folded in on himself, subconsciously hiding his body. Allison noticed. "You don't have to come with us." She quiet enough so only he could hear her.

He shook his head. "No, I want to. I'll be okay. I just have to get used to it, that's all." She placed a hand on his arm.

"We do need to go grocery shopping tomorrow, since someone ate all our snacks in the car on the way here." Diego eyed Klaus.

"What?! I'm a growing boy, Di. I need to feed my energy." Klaus folded his arms over his chest.

"You're thirty years old." Diego argued. Klaus huffed, digging back into his dinner, which consisted of waffles and pancakes. Yes, he insisted on both and couldn't decide between the two.

"If we put together a shopping list, Allison and I can run out tomorrow." Vanya looked at Allison to back her up.

"Yeah, of course. We can have some sister bonding time." She nudged Vanya's arm.

"Would you mind finding some decent coffee?" Five interrupted.

"Well, you tell us what you want. You're the coffee connoisseur of the family. We can't read your mind, Five." Vanya said. Vanya only felt comfortable standing up to Five because they were best friends when they were kids. That is, before Five disappeared. It crushed her.

The seven of them went back to the cabin and made up a shopping list. It was very long, as expected, since everyone had different tastes and no one could agree on anything. Allison didn't mind much, though. We're on vacation, Allison thought, it's only one week.

Afterward, everyone went to their rooms. Luther went right to sleep, eager to get up and watch the sunrise the next morning. Diego flip flopped on the uncomfortable futon in the living room, still refusing to sleep on the spare bed in Luther's room. Allison and Vanya talked a little while longer. Allison painted Vanya's nails, just like she used to do when they were little. Klaus eventually joined them, asking Allison to do his too. The three of them had a lovely "girls' night", laughing until the early hours of the morning and reminiscing about what they got up to when Hargreeves wasn't looking. Five read a book, like, a whole book overnight. He didn't sleep much ever. It was something about time and space. He tried explaining it to the others in the car, but no one understood or cared. Ben joined Allison and Vanya along with Klaus, Klaus having to translate for him all night, not that he wasn't used to it.

Klaus and Ben went back to Klaus's room around two in the morning. He fell asleep almost immediately, as the house was dead silent, something that was new for him. Klaus guessed that the country just had less ghosts than the city did. He thought about moving out here when he was able enough to do so by himself. Ben wandered the house all night, not having to sleep. He liked watching Klaus sleep, but not in a creepy way. He liked seeing Klaus breathe because of all the times he saw Klaus not breathing. He liked seeing his brother finally have a restful sleep after the years of nightmares he got. Ben would like to have someone in the afterlife to hang out with, but he knew Klaus had so much more to live for. Now that Dave was gone, Klaus would just have to find a new purpose.