The Hargreeves had a lazy morning. They laid around the living room of the cabin in silence, not knowing what they were going to do that day. Allison usually had something planned. Right now, she was researching things to do nearby. Diego was whittling away at a new project. Luther read his book about the moon, while Five continued his book about the possibilities of scientific time travel. Klaus practiced making Ben visible to the others. He flickered in every so often, but Klaus still had a ways to go before Ben would be able to have the long conversation he wanted with his siblings. Vanya entertained everyone with her violin playing.

"It sounds good Van-" Ben said, before disappearing again. Klaus had trouble focusing on the task at hand. His mind was elsewhere, on Dave, of course.

"Shit! This is ridiculous!" Klaus exclaimed. He sat up from his position on the floor and went into the kitchen to get another cup of coffee. When he returned, Vanya stopped playing to console him.

"It's not your fault, Klaus. You just need more practice. You haven't used your powers most of your adult life, so it's gonna be harder for you to get used to them now. But you will eventually. You just need to relax and clear your head." She gave him a much-needed hug

"I know, I know. It's just frustrating, you know?" He was still holding onto her. "It sucks that I don't know how to use my powers properly even though they're a part of me. I didn't even ask for them."

"Hey, none of us asked for this life. We're just living it." Five spoke up without taking his eyes off of his book.

"Yeah, yeah whatever." Klaus waved his hand, dismissing Five. He sulked over to the couch, lopping himself down next to Allison. He looked over at her phone to see what kind of activities she was planning for them to do that day. "Oh! An amusement park! We have to go!"

"It does sound fun for all of us to go out and do something exciting." She leaned in and whispered so that only Klaus could hear her. "Are you sure you're going to be okay? I mean, PTSD and all?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean there's going to be lot of flashing lights and loud noises and so many people. It might be a little overwhelming for you. You haven't dealt with a lot if situations like that yet. I just don't want to ruin your vacation." Allison explained.

"I think I can handle myself." She gave him a look. "I haven't been so bad lately. And there's like, no ghosts out here. I should be good to go. If it gets to be too much, I promise I'll say something, okay?" Klaus raised his eyebrows expectantly. Allison nodded.

"Okay, guys, we're going to the amusement park this evening. We're leaving here at six o'clock. And Five, you're coming with us." She glared at him to make sure he got the message.

"Fine." He growled. He popped out of the room, reappearing in his own bedroom of the cabin to savor the last few hours of alone time he had left. Five would never tell any of his siblings this, but he secretly liked doing things with his family. Whether they went out somewhere, or they were just staying home sitting in the same room, it didn't matter. As long as they were together. He missed them after being alone in the apocalypse so long. He got used to the loneliness, so being in their company for too long did get on his nerves, but deep down he did love them.

They all made lunch and spent the afternoon resting before their night out. Luther read his book and worked on a model plane set he brought along with him. Diego took a nap and continued his whittling project, keeping it away from Vanya. Leonard had the same hobby, and he didn't want to bring up any of her bad memories. Allison was on her phone, still checking emails and managing her various social media accounts. She could never truly have a day off from work. Klaus gave up on trying to materialize Ben and sat back in his spot on the beach, remembering to put sunscreen everywhere this time. As mentioned before, Five spent some quiet time in his room. He moved onto another book about travel through different dimensions, wondering whether that was a line he was willing to cross, given how his time travel escapades had gone. Probably not, but it was interesting, anyway. Ben hung around the house, watching his living siblings do their thing. He sat with Vanya for a while while she practiced her violin. He didn't think she knew he was there, but he enjoyed the company, nonetheless. Vanya kept trying to catch up with her orchestra. She was first chair still, and while they hadn't entirely allowed her to go away on vacation, she took it upon herself anyway. She needed it more than anyone. She didn't want to come back to them completely clueless, so she practiced by herself so she wouldn't be left totally behind.

Around five o'clock, Klaus came in from the beach to wash the sand and sunscreen off himself. He got out a new outfit from his suitcase: his leather lace-up pants, a loose-fitting band t-shirt with the sleeves cut off, and his usual army vest. He didn't care that it didn't match many of his outfits. He made it work whether he was successful in his attempts or not. He never took that thing off.

Klaus peeled off his tight clothes that stuck to him with sweat from being out in the heat for so long. It probably wasn't good being outside in eighty-five-degree weather and the hot sun for as long as he was, but what more damage could he do to his body that the drugs hadn't already done? He'd live. And if not, he'd just die and probably end up coming back because God still didn't like him. But we're not gonna get into that right now. Anyway, he turned the water on cool to soothe his hot skin. He shampooed his hair and washed his body like usual. He stood under the water for a while, just thinking about things. He'd been doing a lot of thinking lately, now that it was quiet enough for Klaus to hear himself. Maybe he'd have to give up on finding Dave. It obviously wasn't going so well with a ghost that was right here, so how was he supposed to conjure Dave when he didn't even know where he was? Or maybe he had to try harder. Clear his mind, focus all his energy on this one thing. Klaus was conflicted. He couldn't exactly talk to his siblings about this problem; they'd never understand. And Ben was no use. He always told Klaus to just calm down and focus and keep trying. Maybe that gentle push wasn't what Klaus needed. He needed a slap in the face. A wake-up call. Something to really motivate him one direction or another. And he didn't see that coming any time soon.

Klaus turned off the water and toweled himself off. He gelled up his hair and styled it in its usual "freshly-done but looks like you slept in it" kinda look. He put on his new outfit, adding a little pep to his step. He freshened up his eyeliner, wiping off the old makeup that ran down his face when he put it under the stream of water from the shower. When he walked out of the bathroom, the others were just about ready to go.

"Alright, everyone's here. I've got cash for tickets and dinner, car keys..." Allison said to herself as she tried to organize everything. Sometimes it was tiring being the "mother" of this group. How did Grace do it all those years?

"Everything's gonna be fine. We're all adults. We can handle ourselves. You don't have to micromanage us." Luther jokingly reassured her.

"You know you're talking about your siblings, right? I absolutely have to micromanage them. You included, sometimes." She patted his cheek and walked past him. "Okay, everybody in the car! We're leaving now!"

Allison popped into the driver's seat, Luther in the passenger seat next to her. He felt like he was squishing whoever sat next to him in the back, so he assigned himself a new seat for everyone's sake.

Vanya and Diego got stuck in the middle row together. Their relationship was still a little rocky. He always had a soft spot for her when they were younger, but that quickly went away when she published her book. She described him in it basically as a cold, heartless soldier of Reginald--somewhat like Luther, but different in a way she didn't really go too into detail on--and it made Diego feel betrayed. He thought that she thought better of him. He guessed not. Vanya did skew her childhood memories in her twisted ways, though. She misremembered things they did as children to victimize herself more. They all knew it, though no one ever mentioned it.

Klaus and Five were in the back row, Ben wedged between them, not physically but in spirit. Klaus squished himself over to the far side of the seat to give Ben some more room. Klaus didn't like converging himself with Ben's ghostly form. It just felt weird and kind of cold. Five didn't even notice. He still had his nose in his book that Allison made him leave in the car when they got to the amusement park.

The sun was starting to set as they pulled in the parking lot. The rides turned their lights on to accommodate the darkness, lighting up the whole sky with bright neon greens and pinks and oranges. They all hopped out of the car. Klaus pulled his vest around him a little tighter. The air had chilled in the 45 minutes from when they left the house. The wind picked up cold air from the sea just a few blocks away, bringing the smell of salt with it.

Allison checked one more time to make sure she had everything she needed in her purse. Luther had to reassure her once again that everything was fine and that she just needed to relax. "It's your vacation, too." He reminded her. She led the way to the ticket booth, getting enough for all of them to go on plenty of rides and games they wanted. Klaus first ran to the tilt-a-whirl, the others following suit. Luther waited by the exit for them, not wanting to crush anyone when the rides twirled around a certain way, pushing his exceptionally large body against theirs with the centrifugal force.

A few of them rode the big rollercoasters, Vanya and Five not being big fans of them. They sat on some benches across the way, hearing the screams of their siblings as the cart came back around to the start. Vanya smiled. It was nice to see her family happy together for once. Five felt the same way, but his face unchanged from its hard exterior. He broke a little smile when he saw Klaus's and Diego's hair wind swept from the speed of the ride.

After they got some of the big rides out of the way, they all sat down for dinner. It was a "get anything you want no matter if it's real food or not" kind of night. Luther had four hot dogs and a big bucket of french fries. Diego had two slices of pizza and stole some of Luther's fries just because. Allison tried to stick with something light and had a bag of cotton candy. What? It's her vacation, too. Klaus had a few fried candy bars before Vanya made him stop before he got himself sick. He did overdo it anyway and had to sit out the next few rides until he didn't feel like he was going to throw up anymore. Five also had some pizza. Vanya got a soft-serve vanilla ice cream cone with rainbow sprinkles.

They played some of those overly expensive carnival games: dart throwing, ring toss, etc. Klaus tried desperately to win a giant teddy bear, but fifty bucks later, he came home with nothing. Luther noticed his disappointment. When Klaus walked away from his game of throwing a ball at milk bottles, Luther stepped in like the big brother he thought himself to be. He didn't have great aim, but he made up for it in strength. He knocked all of the bottles down without so much as blinking, and picked out the biggest, brightest colored bear the stand had.

"Hey, Klaus!" Luther called after his brother. "Look what I got!"

"Oh, no fair! That's the one I wanted! You cheated. You're a lot stronger than I am. That game is unwinnable."

"No, I..." Luther stopped himself, confused at Klaus's rambling. "I won this for you." He handed the bear over. It looked somewhat large in Luther's already big hands, but compared to Klaus, it was massive.

"Thanks, big bro! I didn't know you had it in you!" Klaus jogged after the others to show them his new toy. Luther was left to think what Klaus meant by that. Did Klaus not think that Luther could be a good brother? By what he just said, Luther guessed not. It hurt him, but it kind of made sense. Luther wasn't the warmest of the Hargreeves, but he didn't think he was the coldest either. Everyone knew that that was Five's job.

They all piled back into the car, Klaus shoving his bear into the trunk to Ben could sit in the back with him. The ride home was quiet. Everyone wore themselves out, and Klaus was still coming down from his sugar high. It was the only high he's had in almost a year. Still didn't compare to the real thing, but he wasn't going to think about that. He was finally having a good enough day. Five fell asleep, even though he didn't run around like the rest of them, being the old man he still technically was. He leaned over on Klaus's shoulder without realizing. Klaus let him stay there until they got home and he had to wake him up. Five acted like nothing happened.

Klaus snuck into Vanya's and Allison's room when he thought the others were asleep. "Hey, you guys, would you mind if I stayed in here tonight? I'm having a good day for once, and I know that'll be all ruined if I'm left by myself." He explained.

"Isn't Ben here to keep an eye on you?" Allison asked, not meaning anything bad by it, and Klaus knew that.

"Yeah, but he's not, like, here. Do you know what I mean?"

"Of course, you can stay with us, Klaus. It'll be like a sleepover." Vanya scooted over in her bed to make room for him and patted the spot next to her. Klaus sat down on the bed, arranging his pillow and his side of the blanket to his liking. When he finally settled in, Vanya asked him about his feelings about recent events.

"How's trying to conjure Dave going?" She asked carefully.

"Not great. I can't even materialize Ben. And even if I wanted to conjure another ghost, Dave or not Dave, I can't seem to..." he paused, thinking, "clear my mind, I guess? I just feel too distracted by other things, even though this is the quietest place I've been to in a long time without having to be high." He felt the tension in the room shift at the mention of his past drug use.

"Not that I'm ever going back to that. You guys know that, right?" Allison didn't respond. Vanya stepped in for her before she took too long to answer and made it look like neither of them trusted Klaus to stay clean.

"We do. We'll support you through no matter what. Neither of us want you to slip up, but if you do, we'll be here to help you through it again." Vanya said.

"No. This time is different. Last time was the last time. Never again. No matter how bad the ghosts get, to how bad my cravings get, you can't let me go back there." Klaus looked at her with pleading eyes. She just nodded. Vanya never saw Klaus like this. He knew himself that he would get bad again eventually. Nothing in his life was ever perfect. He couldn't have one good thing last so long. He did know, however, that he would never actually take drugs again, no matter how bad he wanted it. He would stay away, even if he had to tie himself up in the attic again. He told Diego this a long time ago, when he was recently clean. Diego wholeheartedly agreed to tie his brother up again, slightly enjoying it the last time, maybe a little too much.

"We promise we won't let that happen." Allison spoke up. She never knew how to go about talking about Klaus's past, not really being there for much of it. She chose to distance herself a long time ago from the Umbrella Academy, but at the cost of her only family, whether they were biological or not. Klaus didn't blame her. They all did the same thing in their own ways, only really becoming close to one another--although not everyone--in the last couple of months. Allison felt like she was the only guilty one because she felt guilty about everything she did. Her powers--or misuse of them--instilled that in her, and it was one thing she couldn't rid herself of.

"Thanks, guys. Goodnight." Klaus turned the light off and snuggled into the covers, Vanya lying still next to him.